Killing Time
by lightxdark
Summary: Sasuke comes back from orochi,he has problems wit his sharingan, he has problems with naruto, and he problems with hinata. As Sasuke goes through life with his many problems....**DROPPED** maybe cuz this was such a nooby story and wasnt planned that well
1. Crushing the Chains

Crushing the Chains

(A/N Author's Note)

_Italics Current person's thoughts_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters**_.

This is my first time ever writing something and I have awful phrasing in my words or whatever that means. Please forgive me and give me criticism on my grammar. I also don't really understand how to put fan fictions on the net yet so forgive me if I make a mistake.

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The silhouette of a woman flickered on the walls of the corridors as she continued to walk down the dimly lit path. The air was damp and cold but that didn't faze through her very determined expression. As she passed by each torch her appearance could be recognized. She had blonde hair, golden eyes, a jewel-like embedding on her forehead, and a green jacket with a younger-than-her-actual-age figure filling into it.

Heels clicking on stone floors and chains constantly rattling was the only sound heard. A figure could be distinguished in the mellow light. There it was. Her destination finally appeared. She stopped and inspected it. A very unique rectangular steel door without a handle had a dark ominous chakra leaking from its sides. The door was covered in seals, tightened with chains, plastered with chakra, and written on with blood. _ 'Unseal heaven's curse' _was what she could make out from the dripping words.

She started to take off the paper seals carefully as to not rip them. Crushing the chains with her brute strength, releasing the chakra from its sustained state in the door, and smearing the forever-wet-blood with he finger tips she was finally able to push the door aside allowing a flood of black poof to subside beyond her.

Chains clattered and red eyes glared at her through the candles' light. There were a ton of candles packed in a medium sized room and the only things that were able to make a sound were the chains, the air vents, and the Uchiha himself. His knees were bent and his hands cuffed behind his back, he tried to stand but the things that prevented him to do so was the lack of strength and the heavy chains that surrounded him.

He seemed to be in a daze and wasn't speaking. She sighed and quickly went to him to inspect his body. The first place she checked was the left side of his neck. A sigh of relief came when she realized that the cursed seal was definitely gone. She swiftly undid the chains and cuffs and helped him to his feet.

He woke up from his daze and pushed aside the only support he had and fell to his knees. Cursing slightly he looked up and registered her features into his mind. After he found his results he let down his guard and allowed her to help him up. Finally as if formalities didn't matter she spoke.

"How are you feeling?" a sweat drop could be seen on the side of her head. After a long pause of silence and a constant stagger here or there he responded with a hushed "Speccccctacular".

"Is it gone?" he hissed as he stepped on a sharp rock with his bare feet. She was wondering what he was talking about and finally remembered why he had to get confined to a chamber room. She nodded her head while looking for a reaction in his face. Unchanged and emotionless was all she could find.

A peck of light came down through a door ahead and she almost dropped him in her excitement to leave the dark hell-hole. They were greeted by the songs of the birds and the whistling of the trees. He winced at the sight but she just smirked at his hate of sunlight. They were under the hokage monument in the very dungeon and now they were just right outside behind the hokage office building.

He tried to walk on his own but failed miserably and ended up landing face flat in a heap of grass, flowers and butterflies greeting him as poofs of dirt went up into the air. "You expect to walk after being stuck in that place for an entire month?" she smirked, then she smiled, then she just went out to laughing at him. "You won't be walking for a couple of days since your body was shut down for that long." (A/N: This happened to Zabuza and Gaara after there so called deaths (Zabuza did die in the end though). This story will have some spoilers if any, so please discontinue if you haven't read the manga yet.)

He glared at her for a minute or so but she just kept on laughing at how the butterflies just smothered him in his humiliating glory on the ground. Seeing as to how the glares don't affect her he just stopped and sighed wondering how his new life in Konoha was going to flow. The place was already too sweet feeling with all the bugs and animals walking around. He could have sworn he saw two orange and pink foxes sniggering behind some bushes.

Finally the hokage stopped her laughing and gave him a helping hand up. The trip to the hospital was quiet except for the occasional snicker here or there from the blonde woman. He couldn't help but notice new shops and construction sites that were being made and or have been already made. She noticed his curiosity and answered his silent question.

"There are groups of people coming from the west and settling down in Konoha. They are quite unique and they have a lot of culture there that we haven't even heard of before. It actually isn't all from the west some that are really close by too, so they come from all around the world. We let in a good number of people who want to become citizens of Konoha, since we expanded our territory as we were repairing the damage from the walls that YOU and NARUTO destroyed." she made it clear that she was quite angry. "But I guess it was okay since the Kazekage came to help repair it with that magical sand of his. Thank heavens for that sand." Big whoop the place was bigger so what? He was getting a bit irritated at her for trying to kick him mentally as he was trying to get over that whole case.

It was early morning and nobody was up yet only the sun and animals were up and about. They entered the hospital that was practically deserted except for a few bustling nurses rushing to their stations. One in particular caught the hokage's attention and she showed them the way to a calming white room. "The Kakashi team (Yamato and Sai included) went on a little C-D rank mission so they should be back in a couple of hours." She dropped him on the nice freshly washed crisp sheets of the bed without any mercy to his pain and gave him a very bitter medicine.

"You're going to have to take this every 10-12 hours if you want to get out of bed in a couple of days." She snickered and gave the bottle to the still waiting nurse that stood beside the door. "I'm not going to stay here forever so she'll give it to you. If you skip even one day of the seven days you're supposed to take it, then you're going to have to take it three more days and blah blah blah..." was all he could make out before going into a deep sleep.

_Sasuke... Sasuke! Wake up man what you think you're doing here!? Come back to us, to the village..._ "**Sasuke**! For crying out loud! How long do you think you're going to be sleeping?" Sasuke slowly opened his eyes to an angry-smiling Naruto.

According to the calendar that was hanging by the door, he slept for a day. Hitting himself in the head mentally for showing such weakness in front of his friends he slowly slouched up. Team Kakashi was all there, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, Yamato, Sai, and himself. They stared at him waiting for an answer for their questions that he had not even heard yet. "It's gone" he huffed with a muffled 'dobe' under his breath.

"Yahoo! This calls for a celebration, of course!" Naruto gleamed under his wide-toothed smile, everyone nodded in agreement. _Great... just great, he can drink sake now, forgot about that. He has always wanted to see how it felt when you get drunk._ They were all 19 now and the legal drinking age is 18. (A/N: just makin it up)

A squeak was made and everyone glanced at the door. The nurse from earlier slid the door ajar just slightly. "Ano...good mor-ning every-on-one." "Hinata! Long time no see!" Sakura went light a bolt to her friend and gave her a big hug. "You've been working at the hospital this whole month?"

"Ha-Hai!" was all she was able to squeak out with a wild blush all over her face. "Uchiha-san um... I was t-told to-o give... thi-is to you." A glass bottle with a bluish-brownish-reddish well all out rainbowish color liquid swirled within it. He just glared at her. She was startled and tilted her head down to stare at the bottle.

Kakashi and Yamato had already left by the time Hinata came in Sai was just staring at the whole scene from the beginning. "Hinata? Would you like it if I gave it to him instead?" Sakura was already used to the whole 'leave me alone I'm tired' and the 'I'm going to glare you to death' act.

"You should go rest Sakura-san. Ah and S-Sai and Nar-ruto-kun too!" Sakura tried to persuade her that they were fine but she wouldn't stand for it and had to hush them out of the room so that they could get some rest. It was quiet for the first time in a while. She sighed; he caught it and tried to see if she noticed that he was waiting for her. She came back to reality and went to get a spoon in a haste that she almost tripped several times.

_ What have I gotten myself into? Well nothing left to do now except kill time._


	2. Hiding the Spoon

Hiding the Spoon

(A/N Author's Note)

_Italics Current person's thoughts_

_**Disclaimer: I Do not Own Naruto or the Characters from Naruto.**_

I'm still getting used to this and I'll try to make my chapters long, but I can't seem to get them long enough. Maybe just 1,000 word or more per chapter... 

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Watching her look for a spoon was amusing considering the fact that the very spoon she is looking for was currently hidden under is pillow. He didn't realize it yesterday since it was his first time drinking it, but the medicine was horrid! _Who in their right mind would create such a thing? _ He clenched his fist when a mental image of the hokage popped up into his mind.

"Excuse me Uchiha-s-san!" he looked up from his sitting position on the bed. His ebony eyes locking with hers threw shivers down her spine. The usual 'hn' for his reply told her that he was listening. "I can't seem to find the spoon...i-it was here a-a m-m-minute ago!" That time she barely stuttered. He tried to imagine her going at least one day without stuttering and realized that it was a lost cause. There was no way she would stop stuttering.

She was flushed because she felt like such an idiot for not being able to find a spoon that she very well just had until a minute ago. "I'll b-be r-r-right back..." She left the room without even a second glance at the Uchiha. The room was still, his eyes now concentrated on his hands as he laid there upright.

_Usually girls would do anything just to see me..._ It's true! Usually whenever he tried to go out back then he would have at least seven or more people following him. A girl would either scream 'I LOVE YOU' or try to seduce him by shoveling make-up on their faces. That stream of memories was long forgotten and he wished that he could finally live a normal life.

Even on a Valentine's Day so long ago swarms of girls would form just to make sure he wouldn't hide away so they could give him some chocolates and love letters. He remembers hiding at Naruto's place and having to sleep the day away under some newspapers he had lying around. He looked at the calendar again and was relieved when it said May on it.

_Come to think of it... was that girl one of my fans at all?_ He shrugged off the feeling. Girls found him irresistible and he just thought of them as a nuisance. _This girl will be just like all the others._

All of the girls thought he was handsome and cute. Was there ever one that didn't think that? _Wait what was that girl's name again? Hishika? No wait I'm thinking about Shikamaru...Hino? No No that was Shino... _His train of thought stopped when a loud slam of the sliding door surprised him.

She looked disheveled and out of breath. Her hair that was once a tight braid was now loose and about to fall apart. "S-sorry I-I took s-so long... there w-was a b-big c-crowd and..." before her sentence could be finished a loud thud and a 'where is he?' could be heard. _Oh crap..._ Shuffling feet and loud screams were heard in the halls. The nurse was so startled that she was standing near his bed instead of near the door where she was standing.

Doors slamming came in alignment. Four doors away...SLAM... three doors away...SLAM...two doors... Without thinking he grabbed the nurse with all the strength he had in his body and brought both of them to the other side of the bed. He muffled her whining with his aching hand. They lay there, him on top of her, on the ground, and the bed covering them from sight if anyone came in through the door.

_"Shhhh"_ a whisper from him gave calmed her down. "I think he's in here!!" squeals and giggles from the other side of the door. "Sasukkeee!" screamed a bunch of girls. They weren't surprised to see no one in there. "Well let's try the next one!" slam...

Tick...tock...tick...tock... "I think they're gone" Sasuke said this but he didn't get off. _My body...dang it I can't move. _She was surprised that he would go to such lengths just to hide himself from a couple of crazed-fangirls. But even more surprised to see that he didn't move from his position on top of her, she was blushing real hard. "I can't move." Half of his weight was on her and he was saying that? After thinking about what he said she pushed him aside a bit too hard and her face was still red. "Arghh..." he moaned and glared at her from the side of his head.

"G-gomen..." she helped him up, he said muffled curses when he tried to pull himself up more. She couldn't stop her red alarm blush that kept on flickering on and off as her thoughts wondered. "Don't think about it. I just didn't want them to interrogate you to tell them where I was." He was gently put in bed. _So that's why he took me with him_ she thought.

She was nice and understanding and didn't question him on why he hid. She tried getting him as comfortable as she could get him. "Wha?" her voice broke the silence. He looked up; she was just fluffing his pillow... _shoot I forgot._ She held up a spoon that was sticking out from the side. They stared at it..._what to say now..._ "You were hiding it from me?" She said with a very stern voice. He nodded with a sigh of defeat.

"Well at least now I know I didn't lose it!" She chuckled with a sweet smile. She used the new spoon she brought since the other one was covered in cotton puffs. _She's not mad at me? Whatever..._ He shrugged it off.

She was about to pour the medicine into the silver spoon when Sasuke said that he could do it himself. She nodded and stretched out her arm to give him the bottle and spoon. He tried reaching for it but his arms could barely bend up from his elbows. After a series of gasping stretches to get the bottle and spoon he gave up.

She smiled again and gave a little giggle. "I'll do it" Her blush reappeared when she put the spoon to his mouth. He opened it hesitantly and swallowed. It flowed down his throat with a fiery burn. He was almost sure that it was really bad liquor if it wasn't for the sour-bitter aftertaste.

Some coughs and gags later he was fine and she just stood there watching him with a small smile on her face, but the knot between her eyebrows was slightly up turned, showing her concern. "How do you feel?" he gave another 'hn' and shimmied downwards so that he was laying down to rest.

She was about to leave when a question popped up. "What's your name?" She turned around to look at his face, but he wasn't looking at her he was staring straight on towards the cabinet. He didn't want to make eye contact with her for being as stupid as to forget to ask her name.

"You don't r-remember me?" She looked like a puppy that wasn't even looked at in a pet store waiting to be bought. She sighed; it looked like she was thinking about something then her face with in a bright cheer. "Hyuuga Hinata, that's my name and don't forget it!" She smiled a bit like Naruto and blushed. You could see that she forced herself that whole sentence in an act of courage.

Now that he thought about she knew his name even before he introduced himself, if he introduced himself at all that is... a huffed "Uchiha Sasuke" and that was it. Her smile faltered again because she thought he would remember her. Of course she knew who he was all that has changed about him is his body. His face has matured but she could have picked him out of crowd of Sasuke-look-alikes easily.

_Well now what to do..._ She turned to leave a second time but was stopped by a second question. "How long are you going to work here?" He attempted to make small talk just because he was going to have to stay there with nothing to do for a week and it was only noon. He convinced himself that he really wasn't interested with her at all and that he only spoke with her out of boredom.

They ended up talking for two hours and she ended up using most of her service time there. Even if the conversation had mostly silence talking they were still trying to make conversation. Every time she turned to leave from her seat next to him near the bed, he would attack her with more questions just so he wouldn't be alone.

Don't think Sasuke Uchiha has changed from being a loner to a social person. His reason was that he had nothing better to do. His stomach growled in the middle of a conversation. With that as her cue she left quickly to get him some food.

_Great...Why can't I just __eat time away_


	3. Getting new books

Getting new books

_Italics current person's thoughts_

(A/NAuthors note)

Hi again! Well I'm getting pretty tired of writing stuff that's been happening in the same day, so i'll try to speed things up later on. The chapters seem to get shorter... well at least I'm writing them! Keep cheering me on! Thank you for the reviews!

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.**_

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She left a while ago after giving him his food. Telling him that she had to go meet someone since her shift was over. But she did say that she would be back at ten o'clock to give him his medicine.

Having the occasional spill here and there, he was determined to eat at least his fill of food. Even if it tasted like it had fur on it. The food came from the cafeteria or so that's what he thought since there was only mushy old food on his plate.

Everything on the plate was either mashed or running. _Mashed potatoes, mashed beans, mashed meat... is there anything they can't mash?! _His arms were still sore and each time he took a bite his whole arm would shake and food would splatter on his plate.

He was glad no on was there to see him in his weak state. He hated showing his weakness even as a child. His brother was one of the few he would show his pain to. Now he's dead. He and Naruto killed Orochimaru and Itachi after and extensive battle.

He doesn't know if Itachi was trying to kill Sasuke or help him. He could have sworn that during Itachi's last moments of life that he gave his final blow of sharingan to Orochimaru. Whether he helped or not didn't matter anymore, he's dead now.

The medicine was helping just a bit. His legs could at least limp to the private restroom that each room had. He could walk for short periods of time, but then afterwards would be totally wiped out.

Tick...

Tock...

Tick...

Tock...

His tray, now on the table, was now an assortment of colors as he played with his food. He spent one out of four hours making pictures using his spoon and food.

It was only nine and Hinata left about five hours ago at four. _She did say that she was coming back didn't she? _He spent another ten minutes just staring at the clock watching it's every click and clock.

_I should get Naruto to get me some scrolls or something! Anything!_ He was almost sure that if you could die from boredom, he was. He would have banged his head against the wall if he could, just for thinking about asking that blonde kid for help.

A shuffle at the door told him someone was trying to come in. A bang and an "Ow..." belonged to a girl. "Let me help you" this time it was a guy's voice. The door slid open to reveal a blushing Hinata and a stoic faced Sai.

She was carrying books and scrolls that towered under her chin. Sai was also carrying something, two bags in each hand and his usual arty-crafty stuff.

"I-I came early t-to g-give y-you some...books..." Nearly toppling over she set the books next to him on the table. She saw the messy plate of what looked like a black blob of beans and an orange mushy blob of carrots attacking each other.

She shook off the feeling and placed it under her 'it's just my imagination folder'. She went to dump the tray immediately after noticing she was spacing off. Now Sai and Sasuke were alone in the room. Sai went to go sit in the neighboring chair and put both bags on the bed.

"Kakashi told me to give you these books and a change of clothes." Sai chuckled as Sasuke peeked into the bag filled with books. BAM Sasuke's eyes widened in disgust at the sight.

Icha Icha Paradise volumes and other elaborate picture books that seemed like every boy would drool over. He was curious on what his old sensei was reading back then and now. There was a letter placed on top of the books. Opening it carefully he read it.

_Dear Sasuke,_

_I've asked Sai to give you these stuff 'cause I thought you would need them. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you have plenty of these at home. Ku Ku Ku (A/N; Kakashi's perverted laugh) There's a photo album timeline in there so look at it when you have time._

_Enjoy!_

_P.S.—there's a surprise in the other bag._

Sai was smiling and chuckling at him. He threw the letter back into the bag and then threw his own arm into the other bag out of ignorance that it might be another 'picture book' of Kakashi's. A sound of clashing medal was made in the bag.

He pulled out his old headband. You could tell it was his old one since the scar that Naruto placed on it was barely noticeable. _I guess they tried buffing it out._ "Ano... Uchiha-san I got you some b-books and scrolls from m-my home." He was surprised to see Hinata; he didn't even notice her come into the room.

Sai left with a permanent smile over his face and Hinata was confused to why he kept smiling. _He must have told Kakashi to get these..._ He stared at the bag again in detest. Hinata clocked her head to the side out of confusion.

"Aw... let me take those books out for you and set them aside for later." She reached out to grab the bag. His hand flew towards hers in desperation. _There's no way I'm ganna let her see those... _

Another head tilt to the side was her response. "Um... Don't worry I'll put them away" with that he took the bag quickly and put it on the other side of the bed. Her wrist was red and he felt sorry for grabbing her so hard. "Sorry..." he whispered as he used a head point to her wrist.

"N-no, its-s my f-fault f-for... b-barging i-i-into your s-stuff Uchiha-s-san..." She put her hand around her wrist to show that she was fine. He dropped the subject and grabbed one of the books she brought to him. A child's story book with the name Hinata engraved in the front of it.

"Y-you s-said... that y-you wanted to r-read something s-simple so... I t-thought about my k-kiddy books and umm..." She blushed again thinking that it wasn't mature enough for him. "Its fine" he began to read silently. _Did I say that when we were talking earlier?_

He couldn't remember this morning seemed like a distant memory for him. The book looked moderately long for a kid's book. He was surprised to see such an amazing vocabulary for such a book.

A smell of evil came blowing in from the right of him. _Oh no... not again..._ She was already pouring the spoonful of medicine that he was supposed to drink. She turned to give it to him only to see an Uchiha faking sleep.

_Don't move... maybe she won't have the nerve to wake me up. _A cold tip to his mouth and a shove through his teeth sent knives of stinging needles down his mouth. She had a small smile while sitting there with her hair down and in casual clothes.

His eyes were probably glaring too hard for him to see clearly, but he thought he saw flowers floating nearby. The drink seemed to be getting worse each time he took it. He faked sleep again, pretending to faint from the pain. She left quietly and wished him sweet dreams before she closed the door.

_Finally today's time is over... one down and another six days to go..._ he groaned thinking about the horror.


	4. Eating with her

Eating with her

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters**_

_Italicsperson's thoughts_

(A/NAuthor's Note)

I'm try to do two chapters a day. It's really hard! I'll do my best! Thanks **WinterinJuly **for telling me that the legal age for drinking in Japan is 20. I had no idea! Well anyway I've been thinking if this is ganna be along fanfic or a short one... Any ideas? I'm thinking maybe a long one... ON WITH THE SHOW!

The next tow days went smoothly, if you could call it smooth. The patter was the same as usual. She would come thirty-minutes early, force him to take his medicine, and bring him food from the cafeteria.

They barely exchanged words at all. He was halfway into the fairy-tale book that Hinata lent him. He would have finished earlier, but Kakashi wouldn't stop badgering him to read Icha Icha Paradise.

Kakashi got so fed up that he wouldn't read it. So he read it out loud adding any kind of sound effects he wanted. Think about it for a second, Kakashi reading an adult book out loud... with _sound effects._ Sasuke sure wasn't enjoying it. He eventually broke down and read it in silence, only when Hinata wasn't there.

The three of them talked about many things. Kakashi was there those past days just to get a mini-vacation from the many C to B rank missions he's been getting. Hinata would have gone on missions if she could, but the hokage's orders for her to take care of Sasuke were absolute.

Three days have passed since he came to the hospital. He was used to waiting for the clock to tick 9:30 sharp and she would come in with a blush stained to her cheeks. But on the fourth day...

_She's late... Did something happen?_ He was well aware of all her problems she had with her family when she was a child. Now she says that everyone, including her father, respects her a bit more after her many accomplishments on missions. Especially the mission where she was honored for killing a member of the Akatsuki, she was so happy when Naruto gave her a big hug that day.

Click... 9:52... No sound was made. He was a bit worried ONLY because he didn't want to walk to the cafeteria. He could walk and move his arms fine now, but was too lazy when it came to getting up and leaving.

He found it relaxing when she offered to get his food and give him his medicine. Now that she was gone, would he have to force himself to take the toxic drug? He stared at the bottle that was almost caved in from the towering books.

Could he do it without her help? _Of course, I don't need a girl to help me!_ He reached for the bottle and spoon. Gulping he opened his mouth. _No way..._ He turned his head away, after several attempts to consume it he was defeated by his stubbornness.

He put the thing away after the fumes got to his head; he opened the window that was right next to his bed. A gust of wind came flying into him, his hair flared up, and his long sleeve shirt being filled with cool air. The bright sun filling the room with warmth was relaxing. He felt this warmth somewhere before, but couldn't place it.

Another glance at the clock, still no sign no sign of her. _Maybe she got tired of me. _A distant clicking sound from outside caught his attention. He tried to see what was making the sound but missed it as it went under him into the building.

The clicking sound faded...then it came back. But this time it sounded more like tapping shoes than the click of a clock.

"Sorry I-I'm late!" She was flushed and tired, her clothes slightly out of place, her hair was shuffled, and her jacket was sliding off. He caught a glimpse of her inside shirt, but she quickly zipped her jacket back up.

She didn't have to help out at the hospital anymore, so she wasn't wearing the usual nurse outfit. That he had to admit didn't look half bad on her. She said that everything was fine now and that they didn't need that much help for the people who were injured at that battle a month ago.

"Isn't it your day off?" He didn't mean to sound harsh, but it just came out that way. She nodded "B-but...I s-still h-have to take c-care of you..." and her flushed face turned into a look of worry.

He stared at her, checking if she even had a little hint of happiness that she was ordered to stay with the Uchiha for a whole week. Nothing... she didn't look at him the way she did with Naruto, which didn't bother him at all. He still wondered why he would even check if she liked him.

He looked in her hands to see two box lunches stacked together in a handkerchief. "Oh! I-I made this f-for us, y-you...d-didn't seem t-to like the f-food here t-that much...so I..." She put her head down in staring at the boxed lunches she was holding.

They suddenly were taken out of her hands and a hand patted her head. "Thanks" _for the food..._ he already had chopsticks in his mouth while opening it. She smiled and helped him open the knot that he had trouble unwrapping on the box.

He was sitting on the bed Indian-style and put his hands together. "Itadakimasu" She said the exact same right after him. He opened the box to see a perfect alignment of puffy egg stuff (A/N: what are those things called again?), sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and grilled meat over rice.

He was admiring it a bit too long and she got worried. "D-do y-you... not like it?" she looked at him with big eyes. _Gulp_... "I didn't even try it yet so hold on." He took a chunk of rice and meat and plopped it into his mouth. _Heaven!_

He tried to hide his indulgence but it was failing him. He had to give a short smile, but it was replaced with his usual look in a second. "Not bad" she thought she saw a small smile on his face, but she blinked involuntarily. _Did he smile? Argh... I'm never ganna blink again! _Of course she has to blink but it was in the feel of the moment.

They ate in silence, she kept on thinking that she saw a smile on his face. He was doing a good job in hiding his smiles that would pop up. He just hated the cafeteria food too much and his body was way into the food she made.

They finished the food and put the box away. After the usual grace to the food after meals, she grabbed the medicine and was quick to give it to him. She put the spoon to his face, blushing new four shades of red. He looked at it hesitantly and looked around the room to see if anyone other than Hinata was there.

He was always embarrassed that he had to have someone give him medicine, but he had no choice he couldn't do it himself. At least he tried!

Holding his breath he quickly consumed it. Ignoring the burn and feel it had in his body. He grabbed a book to cover his face with, he was sure that his face was red.

After cooling down a bit he looked at Hinata to see that her face was way too red for her normal blush. Arching an eyebrow up he wondered what she was so embarrassed about. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably and gave quick looks at Sasuke. He didn't notice that he was staring at her really close.

On impulse she stood up. "I... I t-think I s-should l-leave you a-alone now!" She stared at the book he was holding intently with a squirm in her lip. He looked at the book again.

_WHAT THE!_ He threw the book out of the open window and cursed out loud. _Stupid Kakashi and his picture books!_

"Those weren't mine!" Of course she was blushing, what kind of person would look at that with a pure and innocent girl sitting right next to him?

"N-no...I-I should leave..." He stopped her with his hand on her shoulder and repeated his words.

"Those. Weren't. Mine." With a stern voice he clarified that those indeed weren't his. She believed him surprisingly. The stain of red didn't leave her face the whole day. She went out to train and would come back to give him his medicine at night.

He had hoped that the blush he had from embarrassment wasn't noticable to Hinata. He doubted that she even looked at his face once after that incident. He tried cooling his face down by putting his hand over it, eyes piercing through his fingers.

_Next time Kakashi comes, he's a dead man_


	5. Helping the Princess

Helping the Princess

_Italicscurrent person's thoughts_

(A/N: Author's Note)

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto **_

Well this is my second chapter today! I might be a little late tomorrow and I've decided to make this into a long series of chapters. You guys who review are so awesome! I can't remember if I replied to a few of you more than twice so forgive me if I forgot to reply to you! You guys are awesome! Keep on cheering for me! 

The next day, after waking up a bit too early, he decided to finish reading the fairy tale book that Hinata lent him. So far it had a way more elaborate plot then he could have anticipated. He couldn't believe that she read this when she was just a little kid. It was of moderate size and had a fluent language of vocabulary that he had to admit brought him to a dictionary or two.

The story was about a princess that wasn't acknowledged as one worthy enough to hold the crown. She left home to prove herself worthy, but during her adventures in the forest she fell in love with a foreign looking bandit that has always plagued her kingdom. She always believed herself unlucky to have such weak courage.

Her family sent all kinds to look for her. Nobody found her for they did not care enough for the young girl. But the knight of a noble family kept searching for his childhood friend. Facing many obstacles he was captured in a witch's trap, for the witch hated the beauty of the princess and wished her never to be found.

The knight was now unable to ever speak to her. Never able to tell her the words that he longed to say to her. She ended up coming back home; she had been bewitched by the evil witch and set free as the witch's powers began to wane. The young bandit followed her there to start a new life, many exiled him and others greeted him as the new joker of the kingdom.

The knight and the joker became friends despite the knight's feelings towards him. The princess would always admire the joker from afar, too afraid of how he would react to her feelings. The knight was forever doomed to never tell her his feelings. _The End._

_The end? Hold on that doesn't make sense._ He flipped the book around inspecting it. The book was a little ragged and had no other writing on the cover or on the back. Was that really how the book ended? If it was he sure didn't like it.

Hinata came in 9:30 sharp with a boxes of food made fresh from the rice cooker. She was unusually cheerful and she seemed to shine in the room. She could have eaten the sun for all he knows.

"Uchiha-san, isn't it a nice day out?" He winced at the bright smile she gave him. "Hn" chopsticks in his mouth he tried untying the handkerchief that held the two boxes together. "S-so do you m-mind if we eat... outside today?" He took a look out the window and then back at her, at the window, then back at her. She seemed brighter then outside for some reason.

They ended up outside before he knew it. Settling himself under a tree he gave grace to his food and began to eat. He ate the eggy yellow fluffy stuff (A/N: still have no idea what those are called.) first and in a flash they were gone. She couldn't believe that someone could like a boxed lunch so much. He looked at his box still halfway full of rice and pork when a yellow roll of egg was put on his box.

He looked up to see Hinata blushing when she saw his face. "You... have a little rice on your face..." He freaked out and tried wiping it off with the napkin she gave him earlier. He ate the egg puff quickly and whispered a barely audible 'thank you' to her, whether she heard it or not was her problem.

"I finished it, the book I mean" She hadn't the slightest clue to which book he was talking about. "You mean your..." her face went red he waved his arms a little in defense. "No, not those! The Fairy-tale book."

"Oh! How was it?" "Pretty lame." Was his quick answer to her question. She felt sad since that was her favorite book. "Well you d-did read the second book to it didn't you?" She tried patching up the leak of sadness coming from her.

"There was a second book?" Amazed at how child books have matured he set his box lunch down and covered it. "I thought I put it with your books..." she couldn't remember and made a mental note to look for it.

"I have something... that I need to tend to. Can you walk yourself back to the room?" He waved an ok to her without looking back as he was leaving. Walking back seemed less amusing then when they walked to the tree.

He was already settled in the bed reading some of the Icha Icha Paradise volume one book, when he heard something hit against the door. Voices came through the door. "I-I can't!" _Hinata? What's she doing?_

"Come on, just one kiss. Your so cute _hiccup"_ If Sasuke didn't know better he knew they were hitting on her, so what? He had to deal with this stuff when he was twelve years old, she could handle it. "S-sir! You're d-drunk, please get off me!" she practically screamed that last part.

Sasuke ran to the door and opened it. Hinata came falling backwards since she was leaning on it, she came crashing into Sasuke. She was scared you could feel her body shake, he put a defensive arm around her to calm her down. "Hooo, thee, _hic, _heckkkk are y-y-y-ouuuuuu?!" The guy pointed a dirty finger into his chest.

"Her boyfriend, so back off." Sasuke gave him a big lump on the head and left him on the floor for the other nurses to help him out later. If he didn't have Hinata to worry about he would have just killed him, but being the new nice guy (heh) he decided to spare his life. He said boyfriend because the Icha Icha Paradise book was still stuck in his mind and he was thinking about what the character in the book did in a similar problem to his.

The door was closed and the Hinata's sniffs could be heard. He didn't know that his arm was still holding her; he just left it there till she moved it on her own. Wiping away tears that almost fell she thanks him with a bow.

"Why didn't you just hit him?" she looked crest-fallen. "I-I can't h-hurt a patient..." He glared at her, _wrong that's wrong Hinata_. He would have said it out loud but thought it irrelevant.

"Thank y-you again, Uchiha-san. I h-have something I n-need to give y-you..." She was blushing a little brighter which brought out the little color she had in her eyes. "Close your eyes...that way it will seem faster."

_Is she going to..._he listened obediently and closed his eyes. Gulping he waited for a good ten seconds when his lips finally made contact with...

"Cough" he began gagging. He wasn't expecting something bad at all! She was chuckling through her puffy eyes and raspy voice, spoon in hand. _Heh, I fell for it._ Putting his arms over his eyes he laid down laughing a little. Her eyes widened in surprise, was this the first time she heard him laugh? Not a snicker, or sneer, but a laugh?

She immediately took something out. Click and a flash, he looked up. _She got me again._ She was holding a camera and a smile stuck to her face. He tried getting the camera back with his speedy skills, but it seems that he was out of shape and she kept winning the battle.

His mind wandered to memories of even before the academy graduation. She was so easy to read back then.

_I remember...it was like that one time a long while back._


	6. Two more Days

Two more Days

(A/N Author's Note)

_Italics Current person's thoughts_

Sorry for late update! This chapter might be boring! Im serious! I thought it was pretty boring and it doesn't have that much Hinata in it...please review anyway. If it's boring say it is! Thanks to all who review! It makes me happy and motivated SO REVIEW!

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

Sasuke sighed to himself, staring at the clock which read 9:00 o'clock on the dot. Every morning he would get up early and read books till nine and wait for her to come through the door at 9:30. He sighed again a minute later and picked up the fairy-tale book of Hinata's.

He read it twice so that he wouldn't forget any of the details; he wouldn't be borrowing it again. He searched the pile of books surrounding him, but wasn't able to find the second book. _The Princess, The Witch, and Two Best Friends _the title was a perfect match.

"Sasuke-san?" a nurse he was unfamiliar with called him. He didn't respond, he just stared at her. She was pushing a wheel-bed into his room, with someone unconscious on it... "I'm going to have to put him in the same room as you." She set up the hospital bed that was set aside in the corner of the room and pushed it parallel to his. (A/N: So Sasuke's bed is near the window, and the other bed is near the door now. Look at some of the hospital rooms in Naruto for a reference.)

The man on the wheel-bed was transferred to the other by two strong men-nurses (hehe). They left the room, leaving the man and Sasuke to themselves. _They only put him here with me because they were too scared to put anyone else in here. _Which was probably the truth considering Sasuke's reputation.

The man was mumbling something while trying to remove his bandages that covered his neck, his shoulders, and his right arm. He quieted down after a couple of minutes, but then began to twist and turn in his bed. Sasuke got irritated and threw a book at him making him wake up.

"Ita! Who do you think you are?" Rubbing his head in disapproval he pointed a finger jab in the direction the book came from. "Huh? Why are you here? Why am I here?" He looked around and his finger jab soon faltered. The door opened and disturbed the one-sided conversation.

"N-Naruto-k-kun?!" Hinata's face grew red and her mouth was wide open. Seeing a half-naked Naruto in the morning got to her head. She felt dizzy and had to hold the door protesting to herself not to faint.

"Put on a shirt dobe" Sasuke threw a white t-shirt that the nurse had tried to put on Naruto when he was asleep, but couldn't because Naruto kept on moving. Moving as in kicking, punching, and scratching, the nurse gave up after the first couple of scratches. Hinata looked to see if Naruto was decent and kept her gaze on the ground.

"Huh, how'd I get this bump on my forehead?" There was clearly a red mark of what looked like the imprint of a corner of a book on his forehead. He tried rubbing it but only gave him more pain to hiss at.

"L-let me t-treat your w-wound, N-Naruto-kun." She was sure her heart was beating three times faster then it should. "Sure Hinata-chan!"

"Owwww" Naruto whined. Hinata was putting a cream on his head. He was slightly bleeding so she bandaged his head so he could be satisfied for absolute comfort. Sasuke watched the whole thing, Hinata staring at him, him staring at her, almost too sweet he was about to barf.

"Hey Hinata-chan you still taking care of Sasuke?" Naruto asked out of pure curiosity. She nodded her head and blushed. "So you one of Sasuke's fans too? Honestly that guy has WAYYY too many fans" Naruto turned and gave Sasuke a face while emphasizing 'wayyy'.

"Hmmph" Sasuke turned his head to the window. _She's not my fan you dork, she's yours..._ Hinata's face was soo red she couldn't even speak. She tried saying her feelings for him right then and there. "N-no... I'm not Uchiha-san's fan... I'm...I'm...y-"

"Hmm? You're not his fan? Is that what you said Hinata-chan?" She nodded her head in defeat. She just couldn't bring herself to say it. After all these years her family has finally acknowledged her, she wasn't that weak anymore, and after all that time she can't even say her feelings.

"At least one girl in Konoha isn't head-over-heals for Sasuke! You should just pick a nice girl and settle down!" He nudged his partner in the side, with a wide smile. Annoyed that Naruto was still talking he ignored him and kept on looking out the window.

"I still have no idea what they see in a jerk like him." Naruto whispered to Hinata acting as though Sasuke couldn't hear him. _I don't know what she sees in you too, Naruto. _Looking at the idiot he gave him another bump on the head. "Ita, Hinataaa-chaann Sasuke's being mean!" Naruto hugged her like a child would to his mother.

She couldn't take the pressure of having Naruto so close to her. She pushed him away quickly but softly. You could see that her face too red to call an actual color, she left the room with the tiniest crack in the door where she peeked her head in. "Ummm...I-I have something I n-n-need to do, so...N-Naruto-kun c-could you p-please g-give U-Uchiha-san his medicine?" She left after Naruto gave a nod.

"Hinata-chan sure is weird, ne?" He put his hands under his head in a laid-back expression. "She calls me 'Naruto-kun' and you 'Uchiha-san'. Who calls you that when they've known you for a long time?" He sneered at Naruto, but it was true it was indeed weird.

The nurse from earlier called him 'Sasuke-san' why couldn't she? The thought bothered him more than he had hoped and he tried to smudge out the thought.

"Ne ne, can I read some of these books? Ah, looks like Hinata left one here just now." Sasuke continued with the book he was reading without even a glance towards Naruto. "_The Princess, The Witch, and Two Best Friends _Volume 2 huh? Where's Volume 1?" He looked around; Sasuke threw him the book and grabbed the one in Naruto's hands.

Sasuke was eager to read it and stared at the cover with a deep breath. The suspense was awkward; he never thought that this book would get his mind in a rush.

"Sasuke...is the medicine Hinata was talking about this one?" The evil bottle of doom... is what Sasuke would call it. "What medicine?" Sasuke said in an attempt to cover the fact that he had to take it.

"Ya know! The one Hinata-chan told me to give you. I know you know so just take it!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke continued to protest with his 'what medicine, what medicine' routine. "I get it" Naruto gave an evil sneer. "You always hated medicine when we were younger, saying that you didn't need it and stuff. Well I'm not letting you off that easily, so take it!" Naruto was stood at the side of Sasuke's bed holding the spoon level with Sasuke's mouth. A good minute passed with the spoon still full in mid-air.

Sasuke was used to having a sweet girl give him the medicine, but Naruto??? _I don't think I can take it... _A gulp... _just do it fast, don't wanna be a wuss. _Chomp! He took it quick and put the book over his face.

"Finally! I thought my hand was ganna snap if I left it there any longer." The medicine was still in his mouth, hard to swallow. He was thinking of spitting it out, but Naruto would notice, he was also thinking about going to the sink, but maybe Naruto would think he was puking it out. The only think he could do was to swallow it.

A gasp and silent wheeze later he could feel it churn in his stomach. _Just three more times of taking that medicine and I'm out of here. _He had tonight, tomorrow morning, and tomorrow night. "Hey how do you say this word?" Naruto was reading the Volume 1 of the fairy-tale book and was having trouble.

"That's _mischievous_ idiot." "Oh...I'm not an idiot!" tick...tock...tick...tock... "So... what does it mean?" "Figure it out" _How could you NOT know what it means? Don't people call you that all the time?_ "What do these words mean? Oh and how about this word, what does that mean?" The constant tackling of questions was getting to him. He couldn't take it anymore and flat out said "Shut up!" with a glare so evil you would think that he was evil again.

That shut Naruto up for a good ten minutes until he started to ask questions again and again. _God, just kill me now! _He was getting to the point where he would just run out of the window and sit on the roof until Naruto fell asleep. Then super glue and duck-tape his mouth.

The jabbering went on and on till the subject changed. "Hey looks like Hinata left something else here." Naruto grabbed the package which actually was the lunch that he and Hinata would have. "You think she's ganna be coming back?" "No" Sasuke grabbed one of the lunches and began to eat. Naruto stared and began to drool. "I think she wants you to have hers." He really wasn't sure if she did, but what the heck the lunch would get bad if someone didn't eat it.

"So does she always make you lunches?" he took a bite "Wow it tastes awsome! She really would be a great wife someday!" (A/N: He said that in one of the fillers, I'm just using it again) Sasuke stared at the blonde for a while and continued with his food.He finished eating it in a matter of seconds and opened to the first page of the book.

_A wife huh... about time I go find one..._


	7. The Last Day

The Last Day

_Italics Current person's thoughts_

(A/N Author's notes)

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

Ok so like yesterday I was freaking out because I couldn't see any of your guy's reviews! I even went and sent private massages for help!! I'm serious! I was so sad that I couldn't see it. I waited TWO hours and still had nothing to see. But then when I called to ask my cousin to check on it, it popped up like WHAM. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU GUYS FOR READING THIS AND NOW I KNOW THAT I HAVE TO WAIT FOR REVIEWS. (I'm goofy like that)

Sasuke Uchiha just had the worst night of his life. The sun was up and the birds were chirping, Sasuke was sitting up right in his bed gazing through the air. He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair was unkempt, shirt slightly sliding off.

Naruto laid lazily in his bed with drool coming out of his mouth, his legs tangled in his sheets, and his upper body falling off the bed. He kept mumbling stuff about ramen and about how he didn't have money; he was probably having a nightmare. Sasuke didn't have the heart to wake him because Naruto might hurt him if he did.

FLASHBACK

"Dobe wake up!" Sasuke held Naruto in his hands and shook him crazily. "Wah?" A kick in the stomach and a punch to the face brought the Uchiha down. "Gawd I'm going to get you for that." He grabbed Naruto again throwing him to the ground. Naruto just bounced right up eyes half open in a daze. He did some hand signs and a faint 'kage-bunshin no jutsu' was said.

Punches and scratches later, Sasuke found himself trapped in a corner, with no chakra since his body was still back lagged and still needed a day of rest. He was stuck with two Narutos using his newly updated rasengan. He used some of his speed to get Naruto knocked out, at least from his sleep-walking form. Then he threw him on the bed and tried to get some sleep. Naruto would keep on waking up and come attacking saying "Teme! Come back to the village"

END FLASHBACK

Naruto yawns from his upside down slumber, stretches his arms that hit the ground, and his legs that reach high in the air. "Yo Sasuke how's it going? Saying that upside down with a goofy smile on his face (looks like a goofy frown from upside down hehe) he spoke as if nothing happened that night.

Still on the ground Naruto gets a glimpse of something from under Sasuke's bed. "Hey what's this?" Sasuke immediately recognizes the bag and tries to take it from him. "Hehe Sasuke what's in this bag?" he snickers and pulls out one of the books. _Dang it..._

"Wow Sasuke! I didn't know you had stuff like this. Who gave it to you?" Sasuke rolled his eyes and stared out into the sky. "Kakashi" Naruto snickered and gave a soft smile. "This really brings me back...Look at all of these pictures! I don't remember this one at all!" _Of course it has pictures in it..._

"Did you see these pictures yet?" Naruto asked. Sasuke spit out "Of course I haven't." Naruto's eyes went into surprise mode. "Why not? There are some with you in it." Now that really caught Sasuke's attention.

"What is that?" Sasuke stared at the book that read 'Memories' on the cover. "A photo album! What else would it be?" Naruto spat. Sasuke took the book from Naruto and began looking at it from the beginning. It really was just a photo album; the pictures came from way back. _Did Kakashi say something about this? _

They were from when they first attended the academy. They were cute and innocent back then. Flipping the page there was one that shocked him. On the left side of the page there was Sasuke sitting on the dock ledge at a lake. On the right side of the page there was Naruto on a swing. They looked identical either kicking their feet whether it be air they were kicking or water, they were both looking at the ground too!

"Hey it's me and you! Do you remember who took this picture?" Naruto was overjoyed that someone actually cared about him back then. "I remember it was Hinata" Sasuke said in a monotone voice. _She was the only one that cared back then._

"Really...? She was actually there?" Naruto's voice was softer and sadder. "I always thought no one was there, that no one actually saw me, but someone even took a picture of me! That just makes me happy ya know?" The signature goofy smile was out and his eyes seemed softer. _I thought the same thing...I thought no one was watching, thought no one was there to care..._

Knock, knock, knock... "Can I come in?" Hinata's voice went through the door. _She never had to knock before..._ She came in with that pink flush she always carries. "G-Good M-morning..." she bowed her head with a curt smile.

"Hey Hinata-chan, did you take these pictures of us?" She took a while to look at the pictures, she blushed and nodded. "Wow! I didn't even notice you were there! Did you Sasuke?" "Hn" For some reason the sky seemed more interesting then the people right next to him. "Heh look at this picture of Hinata-chan as a kid." Her blush widened to the far corners of her face.

She was wearing a lavender kimono with a dark purple sash, all alone looking at a kitten that had been left alone in a box and the kitten was looking back. "You look so cute hehe" Naruto exclaimed, she gulped _Naruto-kun thinks I'm cute. _

Sasuke's eyes were twitching, he couldn't stand the obvious effects that Naruto was having on Hinata. "I-I brought us...some obento...I made it special...since this is the last day Uchiha-san will be staying h-here..."

She brought up a very large box of what seemed like a doubled stacker of two wide smaller boxes. She pulled them apart, the bottom half had a wide variety of sushi, and the top part also had a variety of riceballs. The sushi looked tasty and normal, but the rice balls... were in the shape of the rookie nine, including Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Yamato, The Sand Team, Team Gai, and Sai. (A/N: From a filler episode! Just adding a bit more to it.)

"Look its mini-me!" Naruto grabbed the mini-rice Naruto and played with it, telling it to kick mini-rice Sasuke's butt. "Quit messing with me." Sasuke took himself uhh I mean mini-rice Sasuke and stared at it. Having a one-on-one glare off with a riceball, and the rice ball was winning. He just looked at the nori-hair and nori-eyes _I look good for a rice ball. _CHOMP!

"Hey everyone!" Sakura came barging in with a barrage of people following her. "Hey Sasuke-kun, how about we go on a date tomorrow?" Ino clomped on Sasuke, but Sasuke pushed her off for fear of squishing the food.

"What are these?" Ino looked at the rice balls and picked up mini-ino. "This one's the prettiest, no one can eat this one...other than you Sasuke-kun! You can eat me whenever you want!" Sasuke felt disgusted and didn't feel like eating the rice balls anymore. "Ah! Look a Sasuke rice ball!" "What where?!" Both Sakura and Ino went charging for the box and squished the mini-Sasuke. _Eww...at least I got squished, better then being eaten by one of those two. _

He really didn't hate sushi or anything, do he just ate sushi the rest of the time. Everyone was there, Team Kakashi, Team Gai, Team Asuma (he's dead so what?), Team Kurenai. "So...Why are you guys here?" Naruto asked with his face full of rice. "We came to visit you guys of course!" Chouji reached for a rice ball with super fast eating speed. _They just came for Naruto, they could have visited me earlier..._

"Geez we've been swamped with missions because of you guys. We've been back lagged for this whole week. We deserve a bit of alone time." Kiba was leaning against the wall with his arms behind his head, Shikamaru right next to him. "Hey where's Akamaru?" Naruto searched for him. "He's outside." Tenten said, she just came in with Neji and Lee.

"So are we going to have a party or what?" Tenten asked while grabbing a riceball and giving Neji and Lee one. Neji stared at his while Lee yelled a 'Yoshhh' for youth riceballs! Sasuke was surprised "What for?" They are stared at him with a dead silence.

"For you coming back to the village!" They all yelled in unison. "Yeah we gotta have one! With ramen and SAKE!!" Naruto was ecstatic and couldn't wait! "Hey Sasuke-kun, let's go shopping tomorrow!" _What should I say? Do I really need clothes that much??? _ Thinking of the past years, he really didn't have that many clothes. "Fine...I'll go with you, Sakura..." _Only for the clothes..._ "I'm going too! I'm not going to let Sakura and you be alone with you." Ino stuck a tongue out at Sakura.

"Let's all go! Neji, you're going to come too." He gave a wave of his hand and said that it was ok. "How about you Hinata? You coming with?" She shook her head.

"I have some business to do with Kiba-kun..." Hinata blushed and glanced at Kiba, he blushed too but tried to hide it by looking away. _What's going on? _"Hinata-sama? You're not coming?" Neji asked with a hint of jealousy in his voice. She shook her head again in reassurement.

"Uchiha-san, i-its t-time for...y-your medicine..." Hinata had the bottle opened ready to give it to him, but with so many people around he said he could do it himself. He glanced at Kiba who looked ready to punch him when Hinata was about to feed him. _So Kiba likes Hinata huh, and by the looks of it so does Neji.._. He didn't really care if they did or didn't but it was something to keep in mind.

He got used the burn and it was the first time he did it himself. Everyone was having a good time talking and what not. He glared at the bottle of doom and wished it was empty already.

_Just one more time, I have to take that medicine one more time..._


	8. Seeing From Afar

Seeing From Afar

_ItalicsCurrent person's thoughts_

(A/N: Author's Note)

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

Sorry for the late update...I had a writer's block! My cousin thought that I would get one sooner or later and I did! This chapter is a bit longer than most so ENJOY! THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS!!! I love all who review! it gives me the fuel of life! (woulda updated sooner but fell asleep heheh.)

The sky was dark and the air was rigid and dry. Unlike the usual humid nights in June the bugs and animals were quiet. The streets were clear of people except for a few drunks and stray cats.

Sasuke Uchiha was lying in his bed; the room was cluttered with chip bags that stacked up inches high. _I thought they would never leave_. The gang stayed in his hospital room for a couple of hours just to hang out and chat.

Shikamaru, Neji, and Shino were focused on a game that looked like shogi but with different pieces. Lee was explaining how cool it was that we could get imports from other countries and how they were similar to how people get to know each other in conversation, but with objects.

Chouji was talking to Lee about the fine points of food in the trading industry. The girls were chatting up a storm and eating snacks on the ground; Naruto tried getting some chips and ended up 'accidentally' touching Sakura's leg. This resulted in a yell and punch in the face, lucky they were already in a hospital.

The only one that wasn't in a conversation was Sasuke; he was observing how everyone was. Kiba and Hinata were sitting on Naruto's bed since the place was packed; they were talking about something in secret and it was hard to hear since Naruto kept yelling so loudly.

Didn't really matter how long they stayed, but they should have at least helped clean up. Naruto was already fast asleep and he could have cleaned it up with his clone-peeps. Sasuke needed one more night of rest to get his chakra back to its fighting level.

He began picking up the bags as quietly as he could when three knocks hit the door; it slid open to allow a peek into the room. A pair of white eyes looked inside hoping that she wasn't waking any of them. "I-I w-wanted to help c-clean" she picked up an empty juice can and put it in the recycling bin that was settled near the door.

He didn't mind the help and let her continue her cleaning. They picked up flat chip bags and littered pieces of paper that came from Tenten slicing a notebook of notes that Sakura was threatening to read.

They were quiet while picking up the trash, the shuffling of papers and cans was the only thing that wanted to be noticed. The last bag was picked off the ground and underneath it was the _The Princess, The Witch, and Two Best Friends volume two._ He picked it up tossing the bag in the bin. Hinata was sweeping up some chips that were crunched on the floor.

The book was longer than the first one, considering its size he thought it was about 200 pages. "Can I borrow this book?" he could feel her gaze on him. He looked towards the window making sure the embarrassment of borrowing a kids book wasn't making him red.

"I thought y-you said...that it was l-lame." She was still holding her gaze and almost dropped the broom she was holding. "It isn't" he looked back at her, her eyes darted to the ground and she nodded 'yes'.

"Oh! I almost forgot to give you your medicine!" She didn't stutter. He wondered why she did that, stutter then not stutter and then stutter again. _Is it so bad being around me?_ Thinking back at the mini-party they just had no one seemed to be giving him a second glance, well maybe except Sakura and Ino, but they are a different case.

"Uchiha-san, h-here is y-your medicine." She brought the bottle to him in a rush and stumbled, letting the bottle fly into the air. He caught it with his hand going under the bottle and picked up the falling Hyuuga by the back of her jacket. (Like holding a puppy by its fur hehe).

She was floating for a moment, feeling the pull of her jacket from behind her. Her blush flooded her face in a flash. He settled her down slowly hoping that her jacket wouldn't tear. Click clack, both her feet hit the ground her blush never ending. "S-s-sorr-r-y, I-I must h-ha-v-ve bee-en...h-heavy." Her voice calmed down when she said 'heavy'. He shook his head saying that it was ok; she really wasn't heavy he could have tossed her up and back again with one arm.

He gave her the bottle; she looked at him with a 'What do I do with this?' look. He leaned down to her level, eyes closed, and opened his mouth with a small 'ah' coming out of his throat. She figured it out quickly and filled the spoon with the medicine, her hand was shaking and the medicine almost spilt. He held her hand to steady it and chomped on the spoon.

"Yuck..." he stood up straight, looking away from her, and wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He went to his bed and faced his head to the window. She left quietly turning off the lights. _That was weird..._ The both thought.

The Next Morning

A yawn was stiffled and the morning air hit his face. He was wearing the clothes he had when he was with Orochimaru, but instead of the usual big purple bow he put on a normal black sash to avoid the stares of people, if that was possible. He was waiting for the girls near the Ichiraku Ramen shop that Naruto went to every so often.

Naruto was up and ready to go after two nights of rest at the hospital. His body, having the kyuubi and all, was a fast healer and could withstand more than anybody else could. Otherwise known as the sparring partner the Uchiha has always needed and one that he wouldn't have to hold back on.

Naruto was slurping rather loudly, after only eating about a second bowl of ramen. They both got stares and giggles from girls that passed by. Naruto has gained some fans now that his body has grown. His hair slightly longer, his eyes slightly darker, and his tanned body that girls drooled over was only a bit shorter than Sasuke's. If it wasn't for his loud mouth he would at least be as popular as Sasuke, but that wasn't going to happen in a while.

"Hey, _slurp,_ Sasuke you sure you don't, _slurp,_ want any?" He shook his head; stomping feet could be heard in the distance. "FIRST!" screamed two girls who were huffing after trying to outrun each other. A cough, caught their attention "Sorry, but we were here before any of you." Tenten and Neji were on the other side of the stand out of view from Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke noticed them the second he stepped into the shopping block. Naruto, however, was surprised and protested that they were here first.

"Well shall we?" Neji was getting sick of all the yelling and just wanted to get out of there. He only agreed because Tenten would have made a fuss if he didn't go. Lee was out on a mission with Shino, Chouji, and Shikamaru, so he would have to go in place of Lee who would often go to carry some bags.

There were crowded streets and kids running around everywhere. Sasuke lost sight of Naruto, but then saw a blonde head and went to tell him that he was going the wrong way. "Hey Naruto!" he grabbed his wrist and turn his face towards his. "Do I know you?" OOPS, an unfamiliar face asked him. "No, sorry..." He looked around, every other person there had bright blonde hair, and it was weird how he didn't notice it before.

Before he knew it he was surrounded with blondes, the only time he has seen this many blondes is when Naruto does his 'kage buunshin no jutsu'. A 'dattebayo' made Sasuke turn his head and in sight he saw pink hair mixed with more blonde to his left. He sprinted to the pink dot, and grabbed her hand out of the crowd. "Ah! Sasuke-kun! There you are!" he was short of breath and thought he just had a really bad nightmare filled with Narutos. His hand gripped hers tightly from the pain and she blushed.

"NO!" two blondes split them apart. "Sakura"-Naruto, "Sasuke"-Ino "IS MINE!" they said together. Sakura made Naruto flip in the air and Ino held a death grip to Sasuke's shoulder. "OK OK let's just go!" Neji was getting impatient, he really couldn't stand the crowded position they were in.

They went window shopping for a couple of minutes looking at the new styles the west had to offer. The others seemed used to the foreigners that ran around. Sasuke sure wasn't happy about it, he could usual tell where Naruto was from his hair, but now he was having trouble. _At least he's wearing orange_.

They went into a building that read _Vudoo_ and browsed through the clothes. The counter girl was really into the boys that came in, but then assumed that they were on dates and lost interest. "Ok boys, we got you some clothes now go try them on!" They pushed the boys in a large changing room.

Inside the room they stared at the clothes. Sasuke picked one up "How do you even put this on?" They gave a 'I don't know' shrug. "They're in sets so don't get them mixed up!" yelled Sakura that was dangerously close to the door. "Hey what's wrong with Ino?" Sakura asked Tenten. The boys listened intently. "She said she was tired and wanted to take a nap..." The boys realized something just then.

"Hey...are you guys..." Sasuke muttered. They gave each other the same look. Fear over took them and they thought the same thing. _Is Ino among us?_ Sasuke gave a stare to both of them. They were in a triangle stare death off. _Who would she pick?_ BING BING BING!

They opened the door to the changing room, still fully dressed may I remind you, and dangled Naruto in the air, shaking him vigorously till... "Okay OKAY! I'll get out geez!" Naruto said. With a hand sign Ino's body started to move and Naruto was in a dreamy state. "What happened?" _We should have known! _Both Neji and Sasuke thought.

They went back to the changing room making sure Ino wasn't there with them. A couple minutes passed with mumbles behind the door and complaints on how weird the clothes were. They came out dressed in...

Sasuke was wearing a plain dark blue outside-long-sleeved-collar shirt with jeans and a simple black inside shirt with an imprint of Vudoo on it. (I'm trying not to bring too much modern clothes in this time, sorry!)

Naruto was wearing a long-sleeved shirt on the inside and a short sleeved shirt with a color on the outside with jeans. (First time really explaining outfits again, sorry!)

Neji was wearing a tan jacket with a white collared inside long-sleeved shirt for the classier look with black slacks. (Ya know? I give up! I suck at these things, just trying to keep it simple)

"This isn't really what I was hoping to get." Sasuke pulled the sleeves feeling the fabric. "Something more flexible to train with would have been good." Sasuke looked at their faces. _Too bright!_ The shine in their eyes was too bright to handle. "You guys have got to get these, oh, and these too!" They put a pile of clothes into their hands.

After a few fittings they bought it, Sasuke buying Naruto's clothes since Naruto used his money buying ramen. Neji paid for his own saying he doesn't eat ramen like Naruto. Hands full of baggage they left the store with the clothes they were previously wearing. The ninja clothes set in one of their bags.

They were getting stares like there was no tomorrow! Girl here and there getting a look at the new boys on the block (heh). Naruto was enjoying it, Neji and Sasuke though acted the usual same faced people they have always been.

Neji seemed to be looking at something in a near-by cafe they were heading towards. "Why that little..." Neji gripped his hand into a tight fist. Sasuke saw it as they got closer.

Hinata and Kiba were sitting under an umbrella drinking some sugary stuff; you could feel the chemistry they had with each other. Hinata was smiling with brightness and Kiba was holding on to her hand, staring at each other Kiba scooted a bit closer to her, but he saw the teammates that were heading towards them and stopped what he was doing.

"Hey you guys! Room for six?" Ino pulled up a chair as did everyone else. "So what's going on? You guys on a date?" Sakura asked in a gossipy voice. "A-a DATE?" Hinata said in a higher voice.

"Hahah yeah and you guys were interrupting it!" Kiba said jokingly or was he? You couldn't really tell since his voice always sounded a bit sarcastic (I think so). "Well anyway cool outfit Naruto, get any looks from the ladies?" He scratched the back of his head and laughed. "I always get looks from the ladies." "Evil looks" Sakura said while taking a sip of her tea. A burst of laughter came from the table and the day wasn't even half spent.

"What's that?" a bird landed on Sasuke's right shoulder with a message attached to it. It said _Report to the Hokage's office immediately, bring Naruto with you._

He tossed the paper in the middle of the table for everyone to see and left, a minute later Naruto yelled for him to wait. "I wonder why obaa-chan wants us."

_Yeah, what it is this time..._


	9. There's a Ball

There's a Ball

_Italics Current Person's thoughts_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

OK I've been told that I need some more Hinata and Sasuke scenes, after hearing this I thought so too, so I'm trying to think of some good parts. This might cause my brain to go fried, but it shouldn't be that hard to think of new stuff. THANKS FOR ALL OF YOU'RE SUPPORT! (Gimme some good reviews and I'll type faster wink wink

The hokage's office was quiet and she stood behind a pile of papers behind her desk. Sasuke and Naruto were standing for a full 5 minutes for her to notice them. "Ahem, I've called you here for an important matter, so pay attention." She glared at Naruto and he fixed his sloppy composure.

"Everyone else knows this except you guys so here's the deal. There's going to be a ball held by one of the richest westerners that have moved in." Naruto looked at her lazily.

"So what? Do you want us to take care of the ball and protect it?" Naruto wasn't excited about the mission at all; he would rather train than protect a ball. "No, you're going to attend the ball and make sure nothing goes wrong." Now that just made Naruto confused, Sasuke was also a bit confused 'attend the ball?'

The hokage sighed "Naruto...do you know what a ball is?" "Of course I do! Its a round object you play games with." He made his eyes look up while think and he smiled "Hah! Don't tell me you don't know what a ball is, obaa-chan?!" He pointed a finger and laughed at her.

"Ita! Don't go throwing books at me cause you don't know!" She stopped throwing books long enough to tell him that he was using the wrong definition.

"OK! A ball is a formal party" "A party?!" She threw another book at him. "Shut up Naruto and let me finish! It's a formal party that features social dancing and sometimes held for a specific purpose; in this case it's to help us learn about each other's culture." She looked at Naruto to see if he understood.

"So you guys have to go and get fitted for tuxedos tomorrow and learn the steps of a waltz in one day." She stopped when Naruto blurted out. "A turpedo and a wasp???" she stopped her pacing. "I said TUXEDO and WALTZ honestly don't you guys read culture books? A tuxedo is the formal attire men wear to these things and a waltz is a type of dance." "Ah...I get it!" Naruto put his hands together.

"Do we have to go?" Naruto asked with a puppy dog face. "The kyuubi of the village and the only living Uchiha refusing to go is impossible, even the kazekage has to go, you won't be able to squeeze out of this one. Meet up here tomorrow at the crack of dawn and you'll meet your dance instructors. You may leave now." She shoveled through papers to find her pen and waved her hand to telling them to leave.

"How does she expect us to learn a techinique and get fitted for tomorrow?" he whined the whole way down to the training area which he didn't know he was going to. They heard the sound of feet hitting the dirt, clanks, and soft yells.

"Hey look, its Hinata-chan." She was doing puches and kicks in the air with weights on. "Hinata-chan!" she was startled when she was doing a high kick and let all her muscles relax under the pressure, her leg went down quick, and then dust went into the air.

"Cough cough...N-Naruto-kun, I t-thought you w-went on a m-mission." she was sitting on the ground with her hands taking off the weights. "I thought were were but now we have to go learn the watts and get tostitos." Her eyes went wide. "The watts and get tostitos?" she repeated him and he nodded. "G-good luck w-with that then..." she bowed to leave.

"You're not ganna train with us Hinata-chan?" She stopped in her tracks. "I-I-I'm d-done for the d-day and..." she turned to leave again. "Really, but it's only like 3 o'clock?" he looked in the sky. "Oh, I forgot! Iruka-sensai said he was going to treat me to ramen!" he turned around. "Sasuke, how about you and Hinata-chan spar or do something? Sasuke go easy on her."

She clenched her fist as he left. _I'm no match for him...so why am I still here? _ She nodded and said a goodbye to Sasuke and went the opposite way as the blonde. Without warning Sasuke appeared in front of her giving her a soft blow, but she blocked it. _What's going on, I said bye?! _

"W-what are you doing!?" He stopped attacking her for just a moment. "Fighting, that's what Naruto said to do." He attacked her legs this time, fists entangled they shot back with 5 yards between them. "W-when do y-you listen to what Naruto-kun says?!" She threw kunais at him. He reached for his katana (sword thing) but only grabbed air. _Forgot I had to repair it._

He dodged the kunai easily; he looked at where she was but found that she was making her escape. He went in front of her swiftly, "Why are you doing this?!" she tried passing him again but he stretched his arm out to block her. "Are you yelling at me?" he asked. She felt insulted, "I-I am!" just because she was Hinata didn't mean that she had to be quiet all the time, especially when getting attacked.

She attacked using her gentle fist, she was serious. He dodged again, but she followed his dodge and caught his shirt. It ripped, his right sleeve completely torn off, his inside shirt brought to shreds, and his bear chest was exposed. She stopped turned around and blushed repeatingly saying sorry for something she did. "You shouldn't appologize, you're not going to appologize to every person you hurt are you?" he took of his shredded shirt and threw it to the ground.

He attacked her from behind, "You shouldn't give your back to the enemy either." He picked a kunai from her pocket and put it to her face. Standing behind her his arm was around her neck, the back of her head touching his chest. "How did you kill a member of the Akatsuki when you're so soft when attacking? Hit with full force or none at all." He dropped the kunai between her feet and took his arm away from her

"I believe you owe me a shirt" he smirked and crossed his arms. She didn't turn around; she didn't need to with her byakugan activated. "Y-you brought c-clothes d-didn't you?" He had dropped the bag that he was absently carrying before charging at her.

"Yeah and?" He wasn't going to make this easy for her. "Y-you c-can put t-those on..." He snickered "How about you let me borrow your jacket?" She shivered just thinking about it. It was June and plenty hot enought to not be cold. "Y-you wouldn't fit it" was her excuse. She wore her jacket almost every single time he saw her. His smirk never dropping he stopped and reached for a shirt in his bag and put it on.

"Fine, but next time you owe me one." She ground her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, her bloodline disabled. "Uchiha-san!" she yelled, and was surprised by her action but stood by it. He turned back and looked at her. "W-why...!?" _are you being mean to me!_ Words seem to be failing her as her mouth shut closed. He understood why she said it.

She turned her head to see him. He shrugged "I guess I like..." there was a pause as the wind picked up "picking on you." He smirked as they stared at each other; he left her, her eyes blank and her hands shaking. _Am I getting bullied? _She thought. But on the other side of the forest he was thinking differently.

He looked at the time, and decided to go to the ramen stand to eat; he figured that Naruto would still be there. He thought back to Hinata and couldn't help but frown a little._Why am I being so nice to her? _


	10. Dancing The Dance

Dancing the Dance

_ItalicsCurrent person's thoughts_

(A/N: Author's notes)

(Sakura usually says 'shishou' as in 'master' but it sounds weird saying 'master master' all the time)

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

Sorry for not updating yesterday! Somethings came up and stuff. I'm feel really bad. Thanks for all the reviews! That last chapter had the most reviews out of the rest! Really makes me happy! OK, I know that pple like SasuHIna scenes, duhhh, but I'm trying to go slow...But don't stop reading cause I'll add some if pple think there is too little.**I got a cookie!**

The next day Naruto and Sasuke headed towards the hokage's office. Naruto was drowsy and quiet, and Sasuke was his usual self. Going up the stairs they met up with someone. That someone was Hinata, she was out of it for a while then her eyes flickered and saw them.

"Uh..." She was too embarrassed in front of Sasuke and Naruto for some reason. She jumped on the railing and flew down. They were in shock, Hinata just flew down without saying as much as a 'hi' to them. "Ano, Sasuke? Did you do something to her?" Naruto questioned him with a frown on his face. Sasuke shrugged and advanced on to the next step. What did he care if that girl was afraid of him? _Just one less person to worry about._

"Well did you?" Naruto repeated while quickening his steps to meet Sasuke's. "I didn't do much." They entered the hall.

"What do you mean by 'much'?! She was scared to death when she saw you! What did you do to Hinata-chan?!" He put his fist to the wall in front of Sasuke, blocking his path. "What do you care?" Sasuke said as he went around Naruto. Naruto's face was confused.

"Why else? Because she's a dear friend!" He yelled at him not moving from where he was. Sasuke stopped and turned his head. "Isn't it more than that?" Sasuke was teasing but Naruto was taking it seriously, and took his words to heart.

"More than friends?" Naruto put his clenched fist down and his eyebrows were knotted. "What do you mean?" Sasuke turned his head back to the front and continued his walk. Only the sounds of one pair of feet taps were made, then two were made as Naruto followed Sasuke to the office.

"There you guys are! Hurry up the tailor has waited a while and he is extremely busy with the last minute fabrics the ball is ordering." An old man with wide glasses, bandaged fingers, and a crooked smile went up to them and told Naruto to stand on the podium. Shizune was helping him with the measuring tape and pins he said he would need.

Naruto kept squirming and seemed uneasy with the fact that 'the needles' and 'a Tsunade' were in the same room. He's been this way ever since he fought with Haku on the Naruto Bridge. He said he was traumatized and would never forget it. So having pins so close to you, going through your clothes was something that set him off.

"Quit whimpering Naruto and stand still. It's just like taking shots, but with less the pain." he shivered at the word 'shots'. "The more you move the more chance it has of hitting you." Tsunade said in a sing-song voice. He turned to stone for a moment not moving a bit, which was quite an accomplishment for someone like him.

"Ok, come to my shop later and I'll give you the clothes after I refine it. Ok you're next young man." Naruto went down with a sound of rejoice and wished Sasuke luck. Sasuke was easier to deal with and a lot less noisy. They were done with the fitting and were told to go to the ballroom hall where an advance 'learn it in one day' class was held.

The place was a moderately spacious area with hardwood floors and mirrors on the walls. Sakura, Ino, Temari, and an out of place Gaara were in the middle of the room with other people. "Sakura what are you doing here? You're not important so why would you be going to the ball?" He got a hit on the head.

"Baka! I'm clearly important considering the fact that I am Tsunade-sama's apprentice! The one who shouldn't be here is Ino-pig." She whispered in Naruto's ear like a gossiping old lady. "I heard that! I'm going because there is a lack of girls at the party, hmmph" She turned her head. "Besides they don't need any more help guarding the place with Chouji, Lee, Shino, Kiba, Tenten, and the rest guarding the place. Sai and Yamato have been on a mission lately and won't be coming back in a while. Kakashi-sensei is... probably just late."

She tried putting on the fact that she was an important asset to have at the party, but she knew that the real reason she wasn't put on the guarding team was because she didn't have that type of ability. Instead it would have been better to stay inside and collect information.

"Ino, where is that lazy bum?" Temari asked referring to Shikamaru. Gaara right behind her trying to hide something, his face never faltering when it came to glares. "He watched the instructor do it earlier and he said that he already got it down." Ino sighed. "He's probably watching the clouds or something right now."

"Ne ne, Gaara what's wrong with you?" Naruto said in a stingy kind of voice. He just hid more behind his sister. Naruto looked at the mirror behind Gaara and let out a laugh. "Ah Ha! You're wearing tights! Hahaha even though you're the kazekage you can get forced into such things, that's so weak!" A snapping sound could be heard behind Naruto and a black aura was threatening him, the dance instructor held a rolled newspaper and snapped it in her hands. Naruto jumped to the left hiding behind Sasuke.

Little did he know that a barrage of sand was about to hit him in the front. "What are you guys doing?! Go get changed and don't make me hit you!" She pointed to the changing room and Naruto knew now to why Gaara was obediently wearing the tights. _She's scary..._ Naruto thought as he and Sasuke walked to the room.

Sasuke didn't want to wear the thing, but thought it was better to just get it over with. They both came out and they gained 'oohs' and 'awes' well mostly Sasuke anyway. Sasuke's muscles could be apparent, even Naruto was impressed. Naruto looked at his abs and saw some muscle lines, but it wasn't as distinct as Sasuke's.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and get in line, dobe." Naruto was absently poking his stomach seeing if his abs were actually there. They were given dancing shoes at the hokage office earlier and put them on, as did the girls with their shoes.

"Ok my name is Jenni Vudoo and I recently was living in the west, but that isn't important now. So do we all have the feel of what your shoes feel like?" They all nodded. "Well then, let's see if you can walk in them. Start by going in a circular motion and sway your hips side to side. This might feel silly but endure it." With obvious blushes on their faces, except Sasuke and Gaara's, they did what they were told.

"Ok good, now I'm going to time you and teach you the basic steps of the waltz, first the girl's steps..." **moments later**, "Ok now the boy's." She did the moves and everything. "Remember the boys will have to lead the dance, and the songs may have a quicker pace. Just try to go with the crowd." Naruto seemed to have a hard time remembering the steps.

"Ok for psychological reasons, I want everyone who thinks they are having trouble to raise their hands." Everyone, including Gaara, raised their hands, except for Sasuke. "Oh...How about you boy? You think you can do it?" She was smirking; she was convinced that he had no clue. "Show me, come up here."

She stood in front of him to be his partner. He held his stance and did the waltz to perfect detail. They all clapped, except Gaara and Naruto. Naruto didn't because he was jealous and put his arms crossed. Gaara didn't for obvious reasons, well he is Gaara...

He looked back at them, his eyes glazed with red. "Ahta! Sasuke that's cheating! You can't use your sharingan!"(Sasuke can copy stuff) Naruto yelled, he was the only one that noticed Sasuke's eyes. "This isn't like a fighting technique ya know!?" Murmurs and whispers were being made _"That's the only Uchiha alive now." "The child prodigy of that tragedy." "The traitor of the village"_.

Sasuke went into the changing room in the blink of an eye. He came out with everyone staring at him. "I'm obviously done, and Naruto..." he turned to look at him. "Just think of this as training and you'll get it." He left the room with a bewildered crowd.

"Aw! I get it! So if I act as though I'm training I'll get it right?" He was glowing in the fact. "So if I act as though this is a punch and that this is a light jump to an area..." He did the first moves which weren't half bad. He even gave the moves names like 'dogging bullets' for when you bend your partner down and 'running around mines' for when you waltz and move around in circles with your partner.

Outside an annoyed Uchiha was walking to the training grounds. "Gawd, those tights were uncomfortable, how does Lee stand it going up his..." he stopped his murmured words as a familiar yell came into earshot.

"Hinata-sama, you're getting more accustomed to using your byakugan in tough moments." Neji was training Hinata and they were taking a little break. Sasuke lurked unheard or seen by Hinata, which would be hard considering her eyes. Neji noticed immediately with his level of ability and decided to ignore him.

"Your stance is a bit off though. May I?" He was asking if he could fix up the way she stood, she nodded. He stood behind her, held her right hand with his right, and put his left hand on her waist pushing it up a bit. "If you put it like this you should get a better momentum when attacking an opponent." "Oh... I s-see how it i-is N-Neji-niisan" He let her go and stood away from her with a sad look on his face. "Hinata-sama, I thought I told you that you didn't need to stutter in front of me, and please don't call me that." She looked up at him. "H-...I mean Hai!" She smiled a goofy smile.

"I do recall telling you the same thing Neji-kun!" She put her hands locked together behind her back. "But I am from the branch family, and you are the heiress. I couldn't possibly-" "Well if you won't listen to me as a friend, then obey the order that I, as a higher up, has asked of you!" The humor in her voice was different than any other of her voices.

"You really have grown Hinata..." She blushed when her name was called without a suffix. Sasuke huffed a bit in the tree; _I'm just an Uchiha-san to her huh?_ He repeatedly told himself that he didn't care to what she called him, that it didn't matter. Sasuke looked at Hinata then at Neji, who was staring right at Sasuke with a smirk on his face.

_Was he trying to prove something?_ Sasuke tried to lean in closer to see if he really was looking at him. But made a rustle in the tree. "W-who's there?" Her byakugan activate, but found nothing. Neji was chuckling all the while. "It's just the wind; let's go get something to eat." He took Hinata's hand while looking down to the ground, smirking.

Sasuke climbed out from underground and dusted off his clothes. He forgot that he had to go and get his tux from the tailor and left the training ground with evil thoughts in mind.

_Darn it, making me stay stuck in a tree all that time, and making me go underground. That guy is just asking me to kill him. _


	11. A Boring Time

A Boring Time

_Italics Current Person's thoughts_

(A/N: Author's Note)

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

Yet another boring chapter...Sorry but the lack of reviews is getting to my head, sorry to those who actually DO REVIEW! I wouldn't have written at all if there were none. But since people review I thought "that's not fair..." SO here we are. This one is short but at least its something. I hope to get a lot more reviews next time! I'll write more with more reviews to fuel me! Oh and sorry for little hinata scenes again... going slow...

He continued on to the shop the old man was talking about. He had the address that he was given earlier that day but had a little trouble finding it. His personality as cold as usual and the aura around him sent girls flocking towards him. He ignored them with a skill that he developed over the years.

An orange blob up ahead reminded him of carrots for some reason (ch 3.). As he got closer the orange blob came out to be Naruto. "Hey Sasuke! You looking for the tuxedo place? Turns out we've been there before, look!" He pointed to a nearby building that read _Vudoo_.

"The instructor from earlier brought me here, she owns the place and hires people who need jobs." Sakura, Ino, Temari, Gaara, and Kakashi were there too, but Sasuke only noticed the orange suit.

"Yo Sasuke-kun, how are you?" Kakashi smiled behind his mask and laughed. He put a hand to Sasuke's ear and whispered. "Did you like those books I lent you? You can give them back anytime ku ku ku." _Wasn't there something that I was supposed to give him? Oh yeah... _Sasuke thought.

He activated his sharingan and looked into Kakashi's eyes. Kakashi was caught off guard and didn't have time to react to Sasuke's action. They remained in the same spot in front of the store. Sasuke and Kakashi were across from each other. "What's the big idea Sasuke?" His voice was curious and filled with wonder to why his sharingan was out.

"There was something I forgot to give you." Kakashi's eyes wandered to the right of Sasuke. His wonderful collections of books were piled up neatly in the middle of the market street. "You're giving me back my own books?" Sasuke smirked. Soon the books were lit up into flames. Kakashi made a move to put it out, but was paralyzed.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kakashi's very collection that he had been collecting since he was young was being turned to ashes in front of his very eyes. He tried asking Naruto and the others to stop it, to stop the burning. They stood there laughing and laughing and laughing.

"Sorry Kakashi-**sensei** but this is my payback." Kakashi fainted then and there.

"Sensei! Sensei!" Sakura shook him out of his inside-mind state, he was standing right next to Sakura. He looked over next to Sasuke, nothing was there. "Geez what's wrong with you? You just blanked out on us for a moment there." _What was that? An illusion? _Kakashi was so confused and tired.

"I think I'm going to get m-my tux l-later..." he staggered down the street with limp feet. "What's wrong with him, is he always like this?" Having only been to Konoha a couple of times Temari asks. Everyone thought for a moment and nodded. They entered the store to find that it expanded the last time they were there. Two floors of what seemed to only be clothes.

"Look! Wedding dresses!" Ino and Sakura went to a station where you could see all white. They looked at some of the dresses and then they looked at Sasuke, with a grin. _Great...they are fantasizing about me again..._

"Good you guys are here, hurry up and get your clothes. Your one hour of break from class is about to end in 15 minutes." The instructor was carrying boxes of what looked like dancing stuff for her instructing. "You guys aren't done yet?" Sasuke asked. A cloud of depression came over all of them, the biggest one over Gaara.

"Oh hey, I've been wondering about this for sometime, what about Neji? Is he going to be at the party? Or does he have a mission?" They all shrugged and wondered as well. "I haven't seen him at all have you guys?" Ino turned around to the rest of the group. "I've been in the Hokage's office last night and he doesn't seem to be on a mission." Sakura's voice was a bit know-it-all-ish. The old tailor came out of a room.

"You young'ins are here already? I just finished your tuxedos and dresses; I put instructions in the tuxedo, so you guys won't have problems when putting it on." He seemed very busy with carrying clothes here and there. The others were rushing to their dancing session. Before Sasuke left the store, he heard a whine from the old man. "Looks like someone forgot this, probably that young lady from before."

He held a bag, Sasuke was curious and asked his question. "What lady?" The old tailor didn't know that Sasuke was still there. "Well she was real quiet; she had white eyes as well as long hair. I forgot to ask her name but those characteristics should be enough. Do ya know the gal?" Sasuke thought for a moment and nodded. He took the bag from the man and left hearing a 'Please come again' behind him.

He was walking to the Hyuuga manner trying to kill some time. The bag was pretty white and a light tissue paper was filling the inside of it. His mind was wondering if it really was hers, and decided to check the bag.

He moved the tissue paper just a bit while walking. He stopped abruptly in the middle of the street. His eyes didn't move from the object that was inside the bag. A couple of bras and other undergarments that had intricate designs were in it. He closed the bag and put his hand to his eyes. _Why is it that every time I look into a bag there has to be something like this in it? _

Reminding himself that he had already given Kakashi his payback he moved on. Trying to rub out the fact that one of those bras said _C cup_ on it. He tried to think if there were any girls, or rather Hinata, if they had those kinds of assets. He thought again that maybe this wasn't Hinata's bag. But who else has white eyes and is quiet. Well the whole Hyuuga clan was like that he decided just to set it aside and just give it to the girl.

He came to the Hyuuga Manor, it was a little bigger then what the Uchiha's district was like, but now the place had been sold as Sasuke was gone being a missing nin and all. The only place that was left was his house Naruto had refused to let Tsunade sell the place, telling them that he would return.

He rang the bell and in a matter of seconds the gates opened. Neji stood annoyed a bit that the Uchiha would even come to the place. "What do you want?" Sasuke put the bag to his face. Using the byakugan he checked it and felt disgusted. "Are you giving those to me?" a hint of blush on his face he stared at the Uchiha.

"I think they belong to her." He pointed to the other Hyuuga that came behind Neji. "Who is it? U-Uchiha-san?! Why do you have that bag?!" She swiped it away putting it to her chest trying to cover it with her arms "Did y-you l-look i-inside?" He shook his head. Neji saw through this, _Uchiha you liar._ "N-Neji-kun did you?" He shook his head furiously "Of course not Hinata." Sasuke huffed, _Hyuuga you liar._

At his house Sasuke went to his room, looking up at the ceiling from his bed. His mind raced every single time he came into this house. He had no where to run now, no where to hide, he was alone. He had to stay in the secluded place that made him feel horrible; he really had no other place to go to.

He remembered when he was young he would always go to his parent's room when it was a stormy night. He would go to his brother's room when something scary would pop up. He had turned his parent's room to a storage room and his brother's...well he never really wanted to go in there so it has probably stayed the same throughout the years, collecting dust, mold, and everything.

He was bored, he wanted to go somewhere be with someone, where and who? He stared at the book on his table that he had neglected to read. He covered his eyes with his arms. He didn't want to read anything that was made up, nothing that reminded him of his past.

_I don't want to read a 'Once Upon a Time'..._


	12. Time to Dance

Time to Dance

(Authors Note)

_Italics Current person's thoughts_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

I'm late today, sorry! There was a party and I slept late and and and...well I wanted to make this chapter perfect! There is music in this one, and I was thinking of "Waltz for the Moon' from final fantasy eight is a good song for it. So listen to it to get a good FEEL of the surroundings. I LOVE you all for the reviews! REVIEWS! YAY!

On the day of the ball, the sun quickly turned to the moon indicating that it was clearly a beautiful night for a ball. The rustling in the streets as the lights of shops and decorations came on. Festival music greeted people as they try Konoha's cuisines, kids enjoying many of the toys handmade by either the people of Konoha or the people from the west.

Sasuke quickly went through the streets undetected. He was a little late for the introduction ceremony in which he was to attend. _Stupid thing was so hard to put on, and why is it so tight?_ He pulled on his collar to loosen it a bit. Reaching the gates of a humongous building he tried to enter but was stopped by two pairs of arms.

"You may not pass without an invitation." A guy that hid behind a mask said in a mucked voice. Sasuke ears perked up, "Kiba?" he removed his mask and laughed. "I gotcha didn't I? Well here take this." Kiba was trying to change the subject so Sasuke would stop glaring at him. He gave him a blue-black mask that covered the upper part of his face and around his eyes.

"I wasn't told that this was a masquerade ball." Sasuke said taking the mask and looking at it. "I wasn't told until just earlier. They say that the son of the rich guy holding this ball, got too shy and the only way he would go was if it was a masquerade. Sounds a bit spoiled if you ask me." Kiba greeted others that showed their invitations and gave them a mask.

"Won't this be harder to tell if someone snuck in or not?" Kiba turned to him again and put his hand to Sasuke's ear in a whisper. "Don't worry; don't forget that we're excellent in tracking. Shino and his bugs have laced a sort of perfume so he can tell if something is up, and I have my sense of smell to work with." He smiled and made himself sound smart.

"Well _**Shino and I**_ have got to get back to work." Sasuke turned to the other guard and realized that it really was Shino. He didn't notice before, Shino seems to get that allot and was a bit fazed, but that soon passed. "Have fun dancing!" Kiba yelled he waved a goodbye to Sasuke and continued his work.

The building was big and square with pillars and lights surrounding it. There were small fountains and ponds in the front and in the back, people having a good look of the inside from the tall windows that showed chandeliers from the 3 stories up and down. He was welcomed at a side entrance to where he was supposed to enter, considering the fact that he was one of the honored guests.

"What took you so long? Have trouble with your tux?" Sakura and Naruto were waiting for him. "We're going to be introduced soon. Oh and here let me help you with your tie." She took his collar and loosened his blue silk tie and redid it. "You're just like Naruto; if you put it on this tight you won't be able to breathe." Naruto shrugged and went on looking behind the curtains of where they were told to stay.

"Hurry it's almost our turn!" They stood aligned and waited for their introduction. "Now I introduce you to the next generation of Sannin. Naruto Uzumaki, the known savior of the village, Sakura Haruno the best medic apprentice around and last but not least the last Uchiha alive Sasuke Uchiha! May I remind you that each of these nin have been trained under one of the Legendary Three Sannin." A round of applause came through the crowd as they went down the steps and onto the main floor.

There was a huge chandelier at the very top of the building that you could see if you looked straight up the three stories. People at the third and second floor balcony looked down the base floor in applause. "Our host of the party, Charles Reiheart and his son Christian Reiheart!" a burst of whistles and applause went to the both of them as they went down the grand staircase.

"Please have a wonderful time and feel free to dance!" He clapped his fingers to start the music. Sakura and Ino were conversing about something while sipping some champagne, they were touching the fabric of their dresses. Sakura was wearing a nice modern dress that went to her knees, and Ino was wearing a vanilla cream looking dress that was slit down her leg. Naruto looked nervous and glanced at Sakura. "Just ask her." Sasuke pushed Naruto in the right direction.

Sasuke couldn't hear the conversation, but everything seemed to be okay as Sakura and Naruto left to the dance floor. Ino was heading towards Sasuke, but before that could happen a handsome gentleman went to her and apparently asked her to dance. Sasuke was standing alone with stares and whispers going around him.

Sasuke turned his sharingan on again, copying the dance steps of a very very lovey dovey couple that he was observing in on earlier, he just wanted to make sure his dance wasn't wrong. He let his eyes copy as his thoughts wondered to who he would dance with. A band of a number of instruments took the orders of the host as the songs changed.

Gaara went to him with a dark aura around him. "Just ignore them, they bring up bad memories." Once being a bearer of a demon and a blood thirsty demon himself was something that didn't come unnoticed. Despite this he still had stares and giggles, and the occasional batch of girls trying to ask him to dance, which he declined.

A blonde in the corner looked nervous and shaky. He saw that Sasuke was looking at him and went over. "Uhh h-hello! M-my name is...Christian Reiheart...and..." "If you're asking me to dance then no." His face turned red and his eyes wandered to his hands. _Reminds me of a certain someone..._

"N-no, I-I was wondering i-if you knew that lovely y-young lady o-over there." He tried not to point but couldn't help it. A girl with long dark blue hair, lavender eyes, a lavender dress, and a nice white mask was standing across the room. Her dress was a bit simpler then the rest, it had ribbons that laced around her neck, like a choker, and her dress draped over her shoulders. Her shoes also laced around her ankles.

Sasuke's could hear his heart thump real loud in his chest just once, he turned to the light-haired blonde. "Hyuuga Hinata, that's her name." Gaara said, listening in on their conversation.

"So, that's her name...Hinata..." This guy had the nerve to call the person that he barely knew by their first name only and staring at her at that. Sasuke didn't know she was going but should have known better. _She __**is**__ the Hyuuga heiress after all._

Tsunade came up to them in a nice white dress and gathered all of the men's stares. "Remember you two, you have to dance at this party at least once, so don't be rude so go get 'em." She nudged them a bit to the left as girls surrounded them. Girls asked them to dances and tried to hold onto their arms.

They made quite a scene and people started crowding around them seeing what was going on, this including a certain heiress with her cousin body guard. Sasuke caught a glimpse of her and took her by the hand quickly getting out of the crowd. Looking back he saw Gaara mouthing a 'help me!' as girls swarmed around him.

Going to drastic measures Gaara went out and jumped to the next floor ledge that was just above him. The place looked a bit like a theatre with the indoor flooring. He escaped, but only to get crowed by ambassadors and all those other important people.

"S-Sasuke? W-what are you d-doing?" He still held her hand; girls started to give up on Gaara and decided to go to Sasuke again and a certain bodyguard was looking for Hinata. He went to the dance floor as a new song came up, "You know how to dance don't you?" She nodded and stared down, his eyes were activated and he began to do the dance the couple from earlier was doing.

Other people picked up from it and began to go to the steady beat of the song. Her blush had stopped and her face changed into one that was sad. They had just passed by Naruto and Sakura who were having a good time dancing. He gripped on her waist and was unusually close to her, this being because he copied the couple but he didn't notice. _She doesn't realize..._ his thoughts stopped.

"You called me Sasuke..." he whispered in her ear. He was still very close and her blush came back on. "T-that's r-right, I did d-didn't I? I-I'm s-sorry" he held her hand tighter. "It's okay, you can call me that" her eyes looked into his. "T-then w-what w-will y-you call me?" She whispered.

He hadn't really notice, but he never called her by her name. Not even once did call her or thank her for when she took care of him. "Hinata" his voice deep and soft caused her to have shivers that went down her spine, he felt her shake and smirked. The song was nearly at an end they were ready for when you tip the women down and go back up.

"You ready?" he asked and she nodded. The tip was graceful and nice. He didn't realize that the 'nice' part was due to their lips locking. Her eyes went into a full on shock and his eyes did too but he tried to remain impassive. They went back up and ended with a nice swerve. "Wha?" she felt her eyes water but just barely. "It just happened, honest." He looked at her, she could tell he wasn't lying that it really did 'just happen'.

"Hinata," Neji stood at the end of the dancing floor watching the whole thing "are you ok?" he gave a comforting hand to hers. "I-I'm fine." Neji looked at Sasuke and gave him a death glare. Sasuke looked away and gave his own death glare to the happy couple at the corner of the room. They began their make-out session and giggles of love.

_Why'd I go and have to copy from those two love birds?_ Suddenly the chandeliers lights flickered and all the lights went dark. Uproar of yells and a distant call was made. Black out!


	13. The Sudden Blackout

The Sudden Blackout

_Italics Current Person's thoughts_

(Author's Notes)

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

It was a sad night, I was going to go to sleep but I couldn't find my binder. I keep it with me at all times, and it is currently raining real bad where I live. Turns out I left it on top of the trunk of my car, my sister drove out and heard some rustling but ignored it. My notes, homework, drawings, my sister's ipod, pencils, everything is now gone to the gutters. There is no hope for my stuff I'm telling you this because my notebook for SasuHina is gone too so I might be slow. THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS Btw!

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The lights were out, children's cries were made, and broken glass could be heard. "Hinata!" a warmth that stood by Sasuke was now gone. Neji yelled for her again and seemingly ran into the darkness. Sasuke followed the rapid steps that were just ahead of him, making sure not to crash into people on the way by staying on Neji's trail.

Crunching of glass told him that Neji must have jumped out of the window. Putting his arms to cover his head he jumped into the dark abyss hoping to make it passed the ragged sides of the window. Getting a cut on his right cheek he pursued on and followed Neji.

"What's going on? Hinata's scent is getting further away!" Kiba, now able to see through the moonlight, was running beside Sasuke. Sasuke knew the answer, he was probably right. "Hinata…Hinata has been taken, she can't be brought down so easily, and you should be able to see them soon." Neji responded solemnly to his question.

"She got taken from between you two? The infamous Uchiha and the toughest Hyuuga around, one of the two strongest clans ever heard of, and she was just gone?" They both winced at his words, they had both let their guards down around her, they felt safe around her, and they won't ever make that mistake again. "She's close by!" Kiba and Neji said together, which irritated them, but didn't give it another thought.

The sky began to drizzle and small clouds began to form. She could be seen hazily in the white mist that appeared. Sasuke activated his sharingan and saw through this. "This is a jutsu, stay on your guard." They were so close to her, they could hear her muffled cries. They formed a triangle shaped guard to protect each other's backs.

"Neji, can you see through this mist? My nose is filled with stuffy rain smell so I've lost track of Hinata." Kiba scanned the site with cautious eyes. "There is a thick chakra in the mist; I can barely make anything out." He concentrated his eyes on a certain point. "She's in front of us in a water barrier; if we don't hurry she'll suffocate. I think they plan on taking us down."

The three of them smirked, "Akamaru!" Kiba yelled into the sky. A big black dot was clearing in on where they were. He landed and the mist cleared like how the waves move when a drop hits the water. They could see clearly now, they were surrounded by what looks like about 30 ninja in black outfits.

They charged the three with a high killing intent. "Neji…" Sasuke gave Kiba a look, and Kiba nodded. They left through the ninja undetected and went on to Hinata. Neji, now alone with ninja attacking him, he does the _Eight_ _Trigrams Great Heavenly Spin _this allows the user to be protected and give and strike to any offenders with his chakra spin.

Kiba and Sasuke charged at both sides of the opponent holding Hinata captive, Kiba went for the enemy, which left Sasuke with only one thing to do, catch Hinata when she falls. This is what they planned to do, but…it didn't exactly go as planned. They had a few quirks that they didn't see.

One, Kiba didn't sense an upcoming rain clone attacking him from above. Two, Sasuke didn't know he was going faster than Kiba at the time. If you see how this doesn't work, you can see how it will end.

Sasuke crashing into a small sphere of water with a semi-conscious woman, in which he was attempting to catch her when the bearer of the water was brought down. But that didn't happen with a knocked out Kiba on the ground suffocating under a very heavy ninja. Every attempt Kiba made to get up, the heavier the ninja got.

Sasuke was cramped in a ball with a full grown woman, way better than what Kiba was going through, but still Sasuke was irritated at him. "What the heck is wrong with you!?" Sasuke yelled through the water, Kiba's arms flared around. "Aka-Akamaru! H-Help!!!" The man flew off a bit dog now stood over Kiba.

Hinata's body was getting dangerously close to him. He looked around and saw that the ball was getting smaller. This might have been okay for him if he was alone, he would be able to get out easily. But having another person with you would appear more difficult.

Her back was against his chest, her head under his chin, and her body between his legs. He put his arms around her waist as the ball got smaller. "Sasuke quit taking advantage of her!" Kiba knocked out another clone as more came like droplets. He and Akamaru fused together and became BIG Akamaru.

Sasuke didn't retort to Kiba's comment, he couldn't with a Hinata's body smothering him. _Only if she turned the other way then maybe I…_ He shook his head as thoughts entered his mind and the sphere threatened to make him pass out. His arms around her it looked like he was hugging her to death.

His eyes flickered he could barely feel her heartbeat; he figured that it didn't matter to the nin if she died. He was getting stabbed from the outside of the ball with kunais that flew in all directions; he shifted his position to protect the girl from the sharp objects.

"Arghh" blood seeped to the bottom of the sphere, but the water was soon release. They landed with her on top of him moving a little. "A hero always comes late to the scene!" Naruto said with his fist in the air. The ninjas went back and retreated over the walls of Konoha.

Hinata coughed out water and pushed herself on top of Sasuke. "U-Uchiha-san?" He didn't respond, "Sa-Sasuke?!" She looked at his face, his eyes. His eyelids slowly parted, to see a very wet Hinata in a very weird position.

She stood up arms crossed trying to cover herself from the breezy summer wind. She was getting stares from everyone. Everyone was Neji, Kiba, Naruto, and even Sasuke. Their faces went red and blood came rushing down Kiba and Naruto's faces. Sasuke and Neji were holding the blood in by putting their hands to their noses.

After wiping away some of the blood, Naruto took of his jacket and gave it to her. His face looking the other way "Y-your d-dress…" she looked down and saw that her dress was slightly torn near her chest, and that the wet cloth clung to her body; since she was wet the dress was practically see-through and they could see her bra.

"Dobe you're jacket is wet. Take mine." Sasuke took his tuxedo jacket thing out of a nearby tree that he had aimlessly thrown before going into the mist so he could move easier. Hinata took it fast and put it over her petite shoulders. _This smells nice…_ her face still red she cuddled into the jacket.

"Hinata how's your ankle?" Sasuke asked while looking at her foot. She didn't know that she got injured; she tried to stand and slipped on the wet surface. Sasuke caught her and put her in his lap; removing his tie he put it around her ankle to stop the bleeding. Neji and Kiba were drilling glares into Sasuke's head.

For once Naruto actually noticed that something was up. Naruto looked at Hinata again, blushing at the fact he could still see her cleavage. He turned and began to start a conversation "Why do you think they were after you H-Hinata-chan?" he stuttered on her name thinking if he should just call her 'Hinata' like Sasuke did.

"She is the heiress to the Hyuuga line; they would probably use her and the byakugan as a hostage." Neji answered, having thought that this would have happened sooner or later. Naruto gripped his hand tighter, "That isn't a good reason! Using people like that, it's sick!" He gritted his teeth. Hinata's blush turned darker and she tried to stand again, but couldn't.

"Hinata-chan?" he turned to see her struggling to get to her feet. "Let me give you a piggy back ride." He stretched his hand to hers. Sasuke took her and placed her on his own back. "I'll do it, Naruto you go check if everyone is okay over at the mansion." Naruto reluctantly agreed and left with a last look. "Neji did you see where they went?" Hinata now secure on his back Sasuke turned to him.

Neji narrowed his eyes and replied, "Yeah, they headed in the direction of Sunagakure. You don't think Gaara knows anything about this do you?" They started to slowly jog back to the party. "Naruto trusts him and so do I" Kiba said assuring Neji that he was trust worthy.

Hinata put all her weight on him, which wasn't much considering her size. That wasn't the problem though. The problem was he could feel her chest against his back. She was really knocked out if she didn't realize it.

Soft lights glowed ahead of them that were suspended in air. Kiba smirked, "Shino does use his resources." Sasuke observed the lights, they were moving in the sky, lighting the inside, and the outside paths around the mansion. "Lightning bugs" Hinata whispered; her eyes half open and she snuggled against the back of Sasuke's head.

When they entered the building cheers were made, not for them, but for the party. Everyone was drunk, even Gaara was sitting sloppily in his chair with a faint hiccup in his voice and a tint of red on his cheeks. A sad Naruto sat in the corner table without even a drop of liquor. Murmuring "There are no more, no more drinks, argh!" His hands on his head wishing he had at least a little bit of the great party liquor.

"Sasuke! How's Hinata-c-chan?" Naruto was still thinking about call her just Hinata but dropped the subject. Sasuke nodded and said that she was fine. "You know…we still didn't have that party we were supposed to have for you, how bout we combine it with your birthday? That's like in another month right?" That's right his birthday was coming up, come to think of it wasn't today Itachi's birthday?

_June 9__th__…what I would give just to go back in time and stop him from ever being born. _Hinata moved her head a little; _she must be having a dream…_ "I love you…" she whispered in his ear.


	14. The Incident's Aftermath

The Incident's Aftermath

_Italics Current Person's thoughts_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

My binder is back! A neighbor found it in their yard and gave it to a neighboring middle school. Good thing my phone number was on my keys in the pencil bag. Phew! Hehe so now I have my notebook back, not wet at all from the rain, but I realized that I didn't even have that much in their! So SORRY I'm slow! REVIEWS are very appreciated! More Reviews MORE TYPES ThankS EVEryone.

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_Hinata moved her head a little; she must be having a dream… "I love you…" she whispered in his ear… _

He turned his head to meet hers; she was really talking in her sleep. Naruto had left them alone to go look for some liquor. He looked around to see if somebody was watching them, with all the hype going on nobody was paying attention to the soaking pair.

"Who do you love?" he said in a low tone and barely moving his lips. A knot formed between her brows. "I love you…" she repeated again. His heart swelled from hearing those words from her.

"WHO do you love?" a pause and steady breathing from her. "Naruto-kun…" he wasn't surprised, who would be surprised if she said that? Only Naruto himself would be with that wall of denseness around him, but that wall was slowly beginning to crumble as he grew.

"Why?" he didn't want to hear why, but felt obligated to ask. Her lips parted and her breath hit his cheek. "He is… is…Strong…brave…handsome…and…" his heart was in his throat waiting for her to say the very last word. "And?" on an exhale she whispered, "nice…"

Sasuke was strong, brave, and handsome. But was he nice? He's carrying her right now, he gave her his tie, he…_didn't even say thanks for taking care of me, and I'm horrible not nice. _He sat her down on a chair, but her grip on his neck wouldn't loosen.

"Need some help?" Tsunade walked up to them and placed a hand on Hinata's ankle and a green glow rang through her skin. "Where were you this whole time?" he asked her, she took Hinata off his back.

"Where do you think?" "Drinking." Her eye twitched, "I don't always drink." He waved his hands. "Sure sure, so what were you doing then?" She put Hinata on a chair and pointed to Ino's body that had her head down on the table.

"You didn't help us because you were taking care of this drunk?" An angry vain popped up on her head. "No, Ino is currently in a different body right now. She noticed when the lights went out something was wrong, there was a large amount of enemy ninja in the facility. Of course the great Uchiha and Hyuuga should have noticed his." A bigger vain popped up on Sasuke's head.

"Taking a high risk she shot her mind into the darkness and caught us a ninja!" Sasuke fell out of his chair to how mediocre it was. "Hehe, she should be coming back to her body soon, I was taking care of the injuries she had…" She stopped sounding embarrassed.

"How did she get injuries?" She gave him a crooked smile. "I sort of beat the crap out of the ninja; I stopped after the first couple of 'It's me Ino!' yells." "Still would have hurt with your fists." She punched him in the face and he flew a couple of feet.

"I said I was sorry to her sheesh, now give it a rest." Hinata's eyes shot open after that outburst from Tsunade. She tried standing from the shock of being somewhere she wasn't before, but again she fell on her butt making a small squeak. Her face flushed she looked around, "W-Where i-is Neji?" continuing her search for her cousin she was about to use her bloodline limit. Tsunade put a hand on hers to stop her.

"He is reporting to your father." Her eyes were wide; will all of that credit she tried to earn go down the drain? She slumped in her chair and the person next to her jumped from her chair. "Oww, Tsunade-sama why did you have to hit me!?" Vain pops coming from everywhere on her body, she hit Sasuke for some reason.

"Oww, Tsunade-sama why did you have to hit me!?" he mimicked Ino's voice; this only made her angrier and threatened him with a fist. Sasuke looked at Hinata from his chair; she blushed with the stare he was giving her. _Why is he staring…and why does it seem different from how he usually stares? _She looked away from him.

A konoha ninja came falling down, from God knows where, and gave a scroll to the hokage. She read it in silence and gave one or two glances at Sasuke and Hinata. She rolled the scroll back up and cleared her throat.

"Well Hiashi-san," having been on friendly terms with Hinata's father and a very well known loser at poker in the Hyuuga house she called him by san, "wants to have a talk with you Sasuke and with a couple of other people, Hinata you are to attend this meeting as well." Her head sunk, was she going to get scolded for somehow letting her guard down?

"M-Miss Hinata!" A light blonde person, about the same age as Hinata, bowed his head to her with his arms stuck to his side. She turned her head and in his eyes looked like an angel; apparently Sasuke's eyes were like that too, he couldn't stop staring at her.

The man's mask was still on and his blush could still be seen. Either this guy didn't know what honorifics were or this guy is just really friendly, calling people by their first names, but didn't he call her by her first name too? Sasuke continued to listen in on their conversation.

"If you w-would like…I h-have a c-change of clothes b-brought out for y-you." His head tilted to the ground. "I-It's ok…I have to get home anyway." She stood; feeling her ankle had been healed from its previous scrapes and only felt numbness, she made a way to the gates when Tsunade put a hand to her shoulder.

"Sasuke walk Hinata home and be aware of guards." He looked at her and she looked at him. After a couple seconds of a stare fight he gave up and went towards the door, not waiting for Hinata as she limped on her way. They could hear the noise of the party fade and they entered a deserted street with the moonlight caressing their bodies.

He stared at her seeing her permanent blush, _Why does she blush?_ He was going to ask her when she asked a question first. "Sasuke-san" "Sasuke" she looked at him, his stare still going on she looked back to the ground. "Ok, Sasuke umm w-why w-was it that…that w-we ummm…n-nothing never mind." He raised an eyebrow.

_Why did we what? _He thought for a moment looking into the sky filled with stars. He smirked, "You mean the kiss?" Her blush was still there and she nodded. "It was an accident" he didn't know how to sugar coat his words and put it very bluntly.

"An accident?! But…" _That was my very first kiss…_ He looked at her again, letting his eyes look where ever it wanted to look, which was where he thought he would look at. _Why does she try to hide her figure? _Being taller than her by a long shot, he could see down her dress just slightly. Her attempt to cover herself went unnoticed by the nin. _She can't really hide those from me can she?_

"Did you think it was something more than an accident?" He sounded plain, monotonous, and very Sasuke-like. She shook her head, "O-of course, j-just an accident…" She felt like even if it was still an accident she was betraying Naruto. Her eyes looked down still embarrassed of how everything went. "It was just a kiss, nothing special; people kiss each other every day."

The street was ominous and quiet, as if it were made for the silent pair that could only hear themselves if everything were to shut down. The Hyuuga gates were nearby, Hinata nearly leaped at the chance to get to the door. Having almost fallen she was held by Sasuke's arm. His arm could her around her waist easily. _It's…It's tiny! _Having worn a little cape over her arms and waist that went over to her waist, he couldn't really see anything that she had hidden. While in the water ball it was just then cut off when they fell out.

_What is she hiding? _A flash back of what happened a while ago that mentions blood coming out of noses, he only saw a small bit of her figure but it was now beginning to fog in his memory. _Should have got a better look…_ "Thank y-you f-for walking me." They were already at the gate; he was absorbed in his thoughts that he wasn't paying attention.

He looked her over one more time and let his mouth up turn. "My jacket?" he put his hand out for the black tux jacket she had over her arms. She stood shocked and gripped tighter to the fabric. "You owe me." She searched her memory for a second, and the time when she had fought him was when she owed him.

She was hesitant and with pleading eyes she threw the jacket quickly up into the air, this covered the Uchiha's line of vision. He pushed the jacket aside and found that Hinata had already left through the gates, her light dress that frilled before the door closed.

He walked on with a little skip in his step, _My aren't you clever Hinata? I'll get you next time. _His heart sunk suddenly thinking of what was going to happen to the poor girl when they spoke with her father. His eyes narrowed and he entered the empty house that will always be empty.

Little did he know, that this place was going to give him more than he could handle.


	15. Place to Stay

Place to Stay

I'm sure you guys understand my writing by now! My head hurts and I'm not getting that many reviews…cries in a corner I didn't feel like writing, but then again I felt unfair to those who actually did review! Please review! It helps me a lot!!! I'm not joking! THANKS FOR READING THIS! I don't have that much motivation. So please review!

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

That night Hinata ran to her room, only to crash into her stoic faced cousin, Neji. His grayish white eyes glazed her lavender ones. They stared at each other, his eyes slowly moving down, as did hers. Her dress was still cut and revealing some creamy white skin, she put her arms to her chest and he turned his head away with his hands to his eyes.

"Hinata go get dressed, I need to talk to you." He leaned against the wall of the hallway stealing a last glance at her before she went inside. His thoughts weren't clean and he punished himself for that, thinking about Hinata like he often does in his spare time was perverted. He didn't want to turn into one of those lechers aka team seven's leader, Kakashi Hatake.

She came out in a baggy pajama pants and shirt that didn't flatter her figure, she only wears it when she is expecting to go out or talk to her father before going to bed. One time Neji spoke with her unexpectedly at night and saw her in a silk gown that went to every curve she had. Cutting his mind from his fantasy land, he started the much needed talk with her.

"Hinata this is very important so I'm not going to repeat myself okay? Now pay attention." Her eyes intent to pay attention to every single detail she almost fell over with such concentration. "You are going to have to move out of the Hyuuga estate."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing, "M-move out? But why?" her heart was racing and her eyes were big to the point of bubbling tears. "Don't think like that Hinata, it has nothing to do with disowning you or anything like that so don't worry. Your father will tell you the details tomorrow so please prepare your stuff."

He left her bewildered and with a sad heart. She decided not to cry, there was no reason to, if Neji says it is something not to worry about then it is something not to worry about. She slept anxiously awaiting the day to come.

The following morning Sasuke headed towards the Hyuuga manor and saw Naruto standing in front of the gate with a thoughtful expression. He gave Sasuke a big smile and walked through the open gate. "What's wrong?" Sasuke thought it odd that Naruto would give any expression other than pure fatigue in the morning and knew that he was invited to the meeting.

They looked at each other he put his arm around his head, scratching, "Hehe you caught me, I thought I would be able to hide it but I guess I can't now. " _Hide what?_ Sasuke didn't have a clue but pretended he did. "I-I think Hinata-chan is cute!" A blush invaded his face.

"In what way is she cute?" Sasuke seriously asked, they were still walking to the house since they had such a big entrance way. Sasuke knew what cute meant by using the dictionary when he was younger and didn't know what it meant, he was called such things way back then.

_Cute __1__st __use: clever; sharp; shrew; so says the Webster's New World College Dictionary Fourth Edition, _he thought to himself. He never read the second usage of the word.

Having had heard them call him cute back then gave him the influence to become the 'cute' person he is today and still not knowing the true form. Naruto stood there baffled, "Come on man! Don't tell me you didn't think she was cute at least once these past years!?" Sasuke thought for a moment, _well she WAS clever I guess you could use the word cute._

He left Naruto's question unanswered as they reached the main house doors. They slowly opened, two rows of greeters and a very solemn Hinata was at the end of it, waiting to escort them. Naruto's back stiffened and his eyes went soft.

Hinata was wearing her hooded jacket and ninja pants, she bowed to them very low in order to show respect. Her face had no emotion, Naruto and Sasuke both saw this, she was the calmness before the storm.

Hinata's head was down and her eyes on the floor leading them to the meeting room. She glanced at Naruto, which was common, but she also glanced at Sasuke. He narrowed his eyes, and stared at her, she looked away blush covering her face.

"Ne ne, why does Hinata-chan blush? Do I stink or something?" Naruto whispered checking his clothes and huffing in a cupped hand to smell his breath. Naruto was acting like this was his first date and that he was going to meet the father.

They entered a room where the Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai team sat, waiting for Sasuke and Naruto. The father sitting on a cushion on a little podium like step in the room. Naruto sat next to Sakura and Sasuke next to him.

Surprisingly they weren't the last ones to come into the room. Hinata bowed to leave to go escort the last of the guests. The silence was awkward and people felt stiff, even Kiba and Shino were very shaky near the old man.

Neji sat the closest to the Hyuuga head and was silent. Tenten and Lee next to him were tense as were the rest of the groups. Even Chouji had lost his appetite for food then. There was a ruckus outside of the doors and a few thumps here or there.

Hinata came carrying the Kazekage, who indifferently latched himself on her. Sasuke, Naruto, and Neji jumped up to help her, but he waved a hand before they could come. Kiba was stopped by Shino before he could get up.

"Thanks, but could you help me to my seat?" He took her hand that she gladly offered with a smile, forgetting that she was about to get punished. Sasuke stared at them, he seems to stare a lot lately, _How can she smile? Even I'm nervous for her and… isn't he a little too touchy-feely? _

Gaara almost fell, showing his weak side to everyone he was embarrassed, but didn't want to show it. Hinata helped him all the way to his seat next to her father. He put his hand to the knot between his non-existent eyebrows.

Hiashi snapped his fingers to a Hyuuga guard and that guard gave signals to others to activate their bloodline limits for a tight security. He straightened himself as did everyone else. He had a stiffness that only Neji and Hinata could see.

"I gathered you all here to ask questions about the ninja that were after my daughter." His voice was stern and almost even sounded sincere at a point. Sai raised his hand trying to be respectful as he could.

"Old man…No I mean Hyuuga-sama some of us weren't there at the party so may we leave?" Others nodded in agreement but those were shot down. "No, there is something I need to ask of you if my predictions are right."

"Kazekage-sama do you know what kind of ninja those were considering they went in the direction of Sunagakure?" They all turned to Gaara, his arms were crossed and his eyes were closed. Slowly he began nodding. "Can you tell us?" Neji asked out of place.

Gaara did a deeper nod with his eyes closed. A silence and no answer, "Would you tell us?" Naruto asked. Again a deeper than deep nod was given to them. More silence, Hiashi was polite and was aware of his position to be a model to these young ninja, but he was very impatient and tried his best to keep quiet.

"Now?" Naruto asked another question. Silence, Shino pushed up his glasses and said "He's asleep"

They all tipped over in their cushions and only Naruto was brave enough to push him over. This shocked him "S-sorry I have a hangover." Sasuke looked over to him and asked the question. "Who were those ninjas that attacked Hinata?"

Hiashi was appalled, the old traitor of the village was calling his daughter by her first name only. He was also the heir to a prestigious clan that may die and he may have been the strongest there ever was, but calling his daughter that? He didn't know if he should be happy that his daughter found someone better than the kyuubi vessel or be angry at him for being so familiar with her.

"They are probably…" His eyes closed and his mind was in deep concentration. Shino shifted his glasses again, "He's asleep." They all sighed, "GAARA!!! WAKE UP!!!" Naruto shook him from his slumber and his eyes went to full shock. Gaara grabbed Naruto by the shirt and stood up almost with a killing intent, he soon went calm and dropped Naruto and sat back down.

Chouji nearly jumped out of the room. "Sorry I have low blood pressure. Those ninja were probably missing nins from the Hidden Rain village." They all opened their mouths in shock. Sai probably did this because he was surprised that Gaara had low blood pressure.

"What do they want with Hinata?" Ino questioned, Neji was going to answer her but was cut off by the head of the family. "Blackmail, byakugan use, or taking hostage the heir to our clan." Silence again befell them.

"Then what do you want us to do?" Shikamaru who was quiet throughout the whole thing asked. "I want you to take care of Hinata." Their emotions the same and a grin went over Naruto's face. "I will always take care of Hinata!"

Her blush went wild and her mind repeating what he said, 'I will always take care of Hinata! Hinata! Hinata!...' Sasuke scoffed, _dobe that's like proposing to her._ Sasuke wasn't sure, maybe Naruto was proposing to her. He did give hints of liking her when he asked the question 'Isn't she more than that?' at the Hokage tower.

"We won't let anything happen to her!" Kiba yelled happy and everyone agreed. Hiashi let his eyes up it had a little shine, which could only mean that he was happy with their response. His eyes went down again.

"Then let Hinata stay in one of your houses." Everyone stopped their cheering and looked at him. "Who's house?" Sai asked.

They all looked at each other. "She can't stay here in the manor, this is where they will find her first." His heart and voice sounded human and sensitive. Neji spoke up, "She can't stay in the branch manor either." His voice was very sad that she wouldn't be around either of the manors anymore.

One by one the excuses rang up, "My place is filled with booby traps."-Tenten, "Have no room."-Shikamaru, "My dad gets drunk sometimes and it's very noisy at our house you won't be able to sleep."-Ino, "I live with the anbu-root"-Sai, "I don't have any rooms either, sorry…"-Sakura.

"Place is full of animals"-Kiba sounding a bit worried that nobody was saying yes to the question. "My family's insects would attack you at first sight."-Shino. "Well our place seems to be getting smaller."-Chouji oblivious to how funny his excuse sounded.

"You can stay at my place Hinata!" They all turned to the source of the voice. Lee gave a nice guy pose, "I'll even let you have a green spandex suit!" Neji and Tenten's face turned pale, "No I don't think that will work." Neji gave a pleading eye to Hiashi.

"I don't think that would work either." _My daughter is not going to wear one of those._ Lee slumped back down. "How about my place? It's a bit cramped but you can get used to the bugs and ramen cups." Naruto was positive his place was best.

"My daughter is not going to stay there, sorry" Shino felt offended, get used to bugs? HAH. The leader thought otherwise _he lives in a one-room apartment that's not fit for her._ He didn't act the part but he was a very protective father, always caring about how his children developed before and after their mother died.

They all turned to the only person left. Sasuke looked away from their stares. The pressure was weird, he had never been asked this kind of question. To let someone into your house was something he never expected. He gave a quick look to Hinata, seeing her eyes, and looked away.

"Sasuke….."Naruto's voice told him to agree. Everyone else was waiting for his response, Gaara having fallen asleep on the ground by Hiashi. He looked at everyone eyes begging, "I…" He looked for help somewhere in the room. "F-Fine!" They all cheered. _This is going to be hell._

The Hokage barged in, "Wait! I have something to say." They all stopped their cheering once again and Gaara woke up red-eyed. "Sasuke will go back with the Kazekage to get rid of the nin once and for all." It felt like a bombshell just fell over them.

"Sasuke has to stay with Hinata though!" Naruto protested but feeling a little relieved that Sasuke wasn't going to stay long with her. "He doesn't have to stay, all she needs is a place to hide out and she can 'henge' into Sasuke while he is gone." Shikamaru perked his head up.

"That's perfect, Sasuke would be able to surprise them in Sunagakure. They seem to be afraid of him." Shikamaru smirked. Anyone would be afraid of a fast killer like him. "Then it's settled." She nodded to the head and to the Kazekage and they nodded back.

Sasuke was a little mad, _they didn't even ask me._ He wouldn't mind being with Hinata for a little while. "When do we leave?" "Two days, Kankurou should be coming to pick us up." Temari said coming in through the door. "So get ready then and teach Hinata how to be you." Sasuke smirked.

"How did you hear our conversation?" Shikamaru asked, that was a good question. "Uh…I…put a bug on Gaara since I wasn't invited to this bash okay?" The rare blush she gave made him laugh. "Ano… sorry to ruin your moment but can we leave now?" Naruto asked his stomach growling, they blushed. "Don't ask me!" Temari left.

They looked at the hokage and she said okay. Hinata stayed behind to talk with her father; Neji and Sasuke were left outside waiting. Neji glared at Sasuke the whole time, he was sitting on the step porch that led to outside, his elbow on his knee and his hand on his chin. Sasuke stood there glaring back.

"What do you want?" Sasuke went over to him. Neji pulled him closer, "If you do anything to Hinata I'm going to make sure you won't be alive to see your clan be reborn." He pushed him away and walked down the hall. Sasuke rubbed his chest that got bruised from the push.

_My clan…will there be a time that I will have children? Will I fall in love? _ He laughed at himself for thinking about such a thing. _Impossible…_


	16. You are Cute

You are Cute

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

SORRY, you guys really have been a motivation but…I Have a huge writer's block! I want everything to turn out perfectly so…it takes a while. Expect the chapters to go up every other day at the most. You guys really are a big help, even though I said I would write more I feel really guilty I'm sorry! Thank you for your reviews!

After thinking about it Sasuke realized that there were a lot of rooms, but the only open bedroom, that wasn't used to store the Uchiha stuff that belonged to his dead relatives, was Itachi's. They entered the house without a single word said.

Hinata was used to hearing a 'tadaima' when someone came home, and felt a source of pity for Sasuke. They went upstairs, "The bathroom is down the hall, and I guess this is where you will be staying." He opened the door to his brother's room.

The place was really mucky, having been neglected for so many years. He never wanted to enter this room, ever. He could feel his heart ache, but just for a moment. He scrunched his face in disgust. The place was only dusty and moldy, the things in it were normal, and the bed needed to be replaced.

He turned his head to see Hinata's reaction; she was quiet and said nothing. "This was my brother's room, you can use it. The cleaning supplies are in the storage cabinet near the kitchen we passed downstairs." He left her in the rigid room.

Most of the house had gone under some renovating for a more modern feeling. Sasuke asked them to change it before he removed his seal; he didn't want to regain the memories he tried so hard to suppress.

He turned around back to the door, "We'll go shopping for furniture later, get ready." he waited for her reply; there was none. "I'm going to take a shower." He left her once again and entered the bathroom down the hall.

In the shower he closed his eyes and tilted his head to the shower head. _Why did I agree to this? She's only going to stay while I'm gone, so why am I getting her new stuff? _He sighed and turned off the water. Putting a towel around his waist he went into the hall to his room.

"Kya!" a push behind him almost made his towel fall. He turned around, Hinata crashed into him. She was carrying some supplies to the room and she had her hair up in a clip that was covered by a white bandana. Her eyes went down out of habit but were forced up when she noticed he was only wearing a towel.

She had to keep her eyes glued onto his, her blush creeping to her ears. He continued on to his room ignoring what had just happened. Hinata went passed him to her new room, "We'll leave in 10 minutes." She opened her door went inside; he caught a glimpse inside the room, but it closed to fast for him to see.

She put her hand to her heart resting against the door. _He…He didn't even freak out. _She sighed and went on with her cleaning. Minutes later…Knuckles hit the door of Hinata's room.

She opened the door slowly allowing him to see the inside. The room was spotless and fresh, a pile of clothes and stuff were set near the door. A vanilla sent wafted into his nose and made his head light.

"Wow…that was fast." Sasuke was amazed he had never seen a room so clean and he had only been in the shower for a short while. She put her hands together in front of her and shifted uncomfortably. "I-I was taught many things w-when I was little, most of which w-were for when I become…a wife."

"Let's get going." He left without seeing if she would follow, she did. They entered the market place and went into a furniture shop. "Pick whatever bed you like, I'm going to look for a couch." He left her again, never caring if she was okay alone.

It didn't take long for Sasuke to pick a couch that would look well in his living room. He told them to deliver it later that day. Walking back to where he left Hinata he got looks from most of the girls in the store. He sighed.

He saw Hinata talking to someone; she had a nervous smile on her face. He turned a little and behind a pillar he could see who she was talking to. _Christian Reiheart…huh?_ The blonde had his hand scratching the back of his head.

"S-Sasuke, you're back…" her smile fell. "Hn" he went next to her staring at the foreigner. He was embarrassed, "H-Hello, Sasuke was it? I forgot to ask you your name at the ball." _There he goes again calling someone by their first name only._

"Umm… Reiheart-san has just offered to pay for my mattress, thank you again Reiheart-san" she bowed and gave another thank you to him. "You can c-call me C-Chris…Hinata." He grabbed her hand and shook it lovingly.

"No thanks," Sasuke took his her hand and brought her away from him. She gasped, "S-See you l-later C-Chris-san." Sasuke chuckled, _Even though he asked her to she called him by 'san'. _"S-Sasuke! That wasn't nice." She gave him a pout for the first time ever and he liked it.

"I can pay for your stuff, so you shouldn't worry about it." She wanted to say something to oppose him, but it was true. She didn't want to bother him more than she had to. "Sorry…" they slowed down their rushing pace.

"Which one?" She looked at him; they were in the mattress district. "It's t-this one." A plain light purple blanket with a bold violet line going across it. It was a twin single bed and it had enough space for her. "B-But it costs a l-lot…" her fist to her mouth and her face was really worried.

"No problem, I have money to burn." He seriously had money to burn, how would he spend the family's humongous fortune and what on? He told them to deliver it with his couch and they left.

He heard a growl next to him; Hinata's face went red and her eyes blank. "You want to go eat somewhere?"

"No I-I'm fine!" another growl from her. Her face went red, well redder than it was. "Let's try here." They went into a little café. "H-here?" He sat down as if to say 'Yeah here.'

They took a window booth; the waitress went over to their table and gave them their menus. "There is a special today; would you like to have the 'not so sweet' or the 'very sweet'?" "Just give us the first one." Hinata agreed she didn't want to bother him again.

Hinata looked around seeing if there were anybody they knew in the café. The café was clean and pink mostly, she wondered why Sasuke picked this café to go to.

Sasuke looked out the window, wondering why he picked this place. Couples coming in and out of the entrance, _what's going on?_ A tap on the counter and a shuffle of napkins and cups told him the food was here.

A waffle cup ice-cream that had brown ice cream in it that had nuts and a cherry on top, "The flavor of ice cream for today is coffee." The waitress gave a small smile to Sasuke and left. Sasuke wasn't crazy about ice cream, but didn't mind since it was coffee flavor.

Something was weird though, he blinked, there was only one and it had one spoon to it. He looked around before looking at Hinata. Couples were everywhere, feeding each other, and saying sweet nothings. He mentally slapped his forehead when he read the 'Couple's Day' sign at the register.

Hinata was surprised at Sasuke, he picked something 'not so sweet' but it really was sweet. Hinata chuckled sweetly and picked up the only spoon there and took a bite. She looked at Sasuke, he had his hand to his chin which was supported by his arm, and he was staring at her. Her smile dropped and she blushed.

_Does she find it uncomfortable around me? _"Hinata," she looked up at him again. He had his mouth open and his eyes closed waiting for her to feed him. She was so embarrassed that she was shaking. He opened one of his eyes, "What's wrong? You always fed me my medicine." He opened both of his eyes. "I'll just do it myself I guess."

"No! I'll do it…" She put it up to his face just like with the medicine he took it quickly. "Heh" he laughed, _is he laughing at me?_ "It's okay I'll feed myself just give me the spoon." He tried taking it from her hands, but she took it away. "NO! I can feed you! I'm not t-that shy!"

He pulled back, _is she trying to prove herself again? _"Don't be like that, I was just teasing you I don't need someone to feed me." She shook when he said that, "I-I want to be useful… I guess." She put the spoon down and put her hands on her lap.

"Are you sad now?" he fiddled with the ice cream using the spoon. She shifted her eyes and winced slightly. He sighed; _I guess I should cheer her up._ "Naruto thinks you're cute." Hinata's eyes went up and looked at him, but he had stopped staring at her a while ago.

_Why is he telling me this now? _"O-oh? Really…?" her face lit up again. "I think you're cute too." He put the spoon to his mouth and took a bite. Now that really surprised her, two people thought that she was cute, she didn't even think that.

Her eyes went down to her lap, but a spoon to her face said otherwise. "Here" he was actually trying to be nice _so is what he said a lie?_ She took up his offer and slowly took a bite. If anybody saw them they would think that they were a couple, a very 'cute' couple.

"Let's go." They ate most of the ice cream, that Sasuke had to admit woke him up from everything. They were walking back to the house through a popular street. Girls checked Sasuke out as the boys did to Hinata, the street was very busy and Sasuke absently put his arm around her waist to keep her from wondering away from him.

She was pulled to him, her head on his chest. _He smells nice…_She looked at his face from her angle. His skin was pale, his eyes and hair were black, his body was strong, and he was tall. "What?" he was looking down at her and she turned her head away in a blush. _H-He's really handsome…doesn't he feel embarrassed being around me?_

He raised an eyebrow, _what's wrong with her this time? Is there something on my face? _They went into the house, "You want to go train or something?" Sasuke asked they just came back and now they were going back out? "But I'm…"_not strong enough._

"Don't worry I'll help you get stronger, in time…" _Why am I saying this? It's not like me, helping others that is. _ She was still reluctant but he was patient and would wait for her answer. "I…" She turned her head away… "I..!"


	17. Meaning of 'Cute'

Meaning of 'Cute'

Hi

He stood there nonchalantly listening to her every stammer. She was stressed around him, he could tell, whenever she was alone with anyone else other than him she probably would have been fine.

"I…I'm g-going…to…" _finally…we can go "_t-take a bath, if that's o-okay with you…" His thoughts sounded wrong with her voice mixed in it. She was looking towards the ground like usual and he gave a wave of his left hand as his right massaged his temple.

She left upstairs and he followed, she went down the hall and he followed, she went to the bathroom and he almost followed, but turned into his room. He heard clicks, doors closing and creaking, _she forgot to get her clothes and all the other girl stuff she needed. _

He rested his head on his pillow and laid his body down on the soft fluffy mattress he had. He looked to the ceiling with his arm up and his wrist on his forehead, slowly dozing off.

His bed was the first thing you would see when entering the room, lining up against the wall. Itachi's bed would line up like that too in his room; it was odd that their bedroom doors were close. Since the doors were close the beds would have only a wall between them. They would often talk to each other through the walls if one had trouble sleeping, this being usually Sasuke as a child.

Now instead of Itachi, Hinata would be on the other side of the wall even if it were for only two more nights that was still pretty close. He could remember the first time Itachi had tried to talk to him through the wall.

_The rain and hail had kept Sasuke awake and he put his little arms around his legs to keep from shaking, this didn't help much. Two different odd knocks, other than the hail hitting the roof, caught Sasuke's attention._

"_Sasuke can you hear me?" Sasuke was thrilled, having his brother talk to him in the night he barely had time to talk during the day. "Hai! What are you doing up so late, Aniki?" He put his ear to the wall trying to see where his brother's voice was coming from. _

"_Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he chuckled, Sasuke pouted. "The weather has been really bad lately and I can't sleep!" Itachi chuckled again. "Keep your voice down, you don't want father to catch you awake this late do you?" Sasuke shook his head thinking again how his brother couldn't see him he said no. _

"_There is going to be thunder soon, this is the first time weather has been this bad. Is this going to be the first time you hear thunder?" Sasuke was perplexed. "Thunder?" Sasuke rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand getting sleepy. "Heh, Sasuke you're too cute. Are you getting tired?" Sasuke yawned, "A little…By the way aniki what does…cute mean?" _

_Itachi smiled to how 'cute' Sasuke was being. "Cute means… how should I put this…in the way people use cute to you is saying in a way that you are charming or attractive, same thing goes for girls." Itachi teased him, Sasuke wasn't amused._

_Sasuke's eyebrow perked up, "Old people think I'm attractive?" Sasuke put his head down and closed his eyes, "Hah I guess so." He blinked a few times. His eyelids feeling very heavy and he yawned again, Itachi heard him and smiled._

"_Good night aniki." Sasuke whispered wondering if his brother heard him. "Oyasumi Sasuke." A burst of thunder came throughout the room and he jolted up…_

Sasuke shook and sat right up in his bed. Turning his head to the right looking at the wall, he put his right hand on it, seeing as if the situation could happen again. The dream felt so real to him that he was sweating all over. How long had he been asleep?

He went to go wash himself up leaving his bedroom door open he left. He walked down the hall absent mindedly thinking that something was wrong, but continued on. He opened the door effortlessly and was surprised to see…

"Oh shoot." He whispered covering his eyes with his hand that wasn't glued to the door. He cracked his fingers open to see that she hadn't responded to his sudden rush into the bathroom. She was calm and apparently sleeping in the tub.

Her hair stuck to the sides of her face and put up with a clip. Luckily she put some bath salts in the tub to make it thick and unclear. Her chest barely showing in the water and a towel clenched to her tightly. He released a sigh. Her skin looked smooth and white, she wasn't as pale as him though.

Looking at himself with the foggy mirror to his right, he looked like a ghost. _Had it been the month set away from the sun that caused this? Probably…_ His skin was the least of his worries as she slowly opened her eyelids, her shoulders buckled up and her hands to her chest.

Hinata's face was red, even redder since the water was hot. She was light headed and she knew it, so she didn't scream instead she put her body more into the water watching him intently with shallow eyes. He stopped staring at her for the 3 minutes he had and reached for a face towel he had hanging.

"Sorry, I had a nightmare and forgot you were in here." Still he was indifferent, he took his time in the bathroom, washing the cloth, checking his eyes, and putting a little lotion on his face. He left the room in 5 minutes maximum to what Hinata could tell.

_Is…is he crazy! I mean he could have taken the lotion bottle with him and wet the cloth downstairs. _She bubble some bubbles from underneath the water, she was only in there for 15 minutes and she couldn't help but doze off. The previous night she had trouble closing her eyes due to stress.

Realization hit her, _how long had he been staring? I only noticed him only after he came in…_ She feared the worst, was the Uchiha really a pervert? She didn't want to find out.

She decided to go looking around rather than hang around Sasuke after her bath. She went to the porch-like outside thing that allowed a little hall that lead to the outside so you could look at the little pond of fish. The outside hall lead to another section of the big house, she saw a big two-door door that would swing open. It was old like the rest of the house and untouched like her room.

A flash of the past came to her. _Two old people of the Hyuuga residence were talking apart from Hinata, "I heard that the head and head mistress of the family got killed in their very own dojo." Little Hinata grimaced and felt sorry for the little Uchiha that was dressed all in black for the funeral. She thought to herself 'Who does he have now?' she clenched her lavender kimono lightly, while holding onto her father's yukata sash. _

She looked around feeling a pain in her heart, Sasuke was staring at her leaning on a strong little support pillar that held the ceiling up. His eyes gently narrowed down on her. "Go ahead and open it." His voice, as mundane as always, convinced her.

The room was big enough for a spar and had hard wood flooring that needed a good sweep and polish. There were several windows, but only one that was open allowing the sun in. No markings were on the ground except the some kunai markings.

She looked at the door, the design was plain and it was smooth though gathering dust. One thing caught her eye though, a single small gash in the door. Sasuke was surprised she saw it, seeing details was a Hyuuga specialty after all. She began to speak through pink lips, "This w-was made by…a shuriken."

Sasuke sighed, "That was the first weapon my brother hurt me with." He pointed to the side of his left shoulder, "The nurses put ointment on the wound so it wouldn't leave a scar, but I took it off." She turned her head avoiding eye contact only looking at where he pointed. He began pulling up his short sleeve.

A light scar, a very light scar was left on his shoulder. "I wanted to leave a scar, to remind me of a past that would never heal." The knot between her eyebrows only increased. _Who does he have now?_ She repeatedly said in her mind of that lonesome day.

Sasuke stared at her, her head was looking to the ground with a blush, and her hands clenched her pants. A quote from his brother came into mind, '_Cute__means… how should I put this…in the way people use cute to you is saying in a way that you are charming or attractive, same thing goes for girls.' _

_So what I said to her earlier…oh crap…_ He hit his head and Hinata shook up. She really would be 'cute' in every definition of the word. The side of Sasuke's mouth crooked up, she really was cute. Her eyes would play with his, first staring at his eyes, then looking away, then back at staring again.

A bell and a knock were at the door. The delivery was fast and Sasuke had paid extra for it. They walked on closing the doors. She followed him like a baby chick would to his mother, he didn't mind, feeling his face heat up for a second when thinking of the incident in the bathroom he turned on her.

She greeted the delivery men and the klutz that she was had to fall face flat on the floor. Her blush never ending, he leaned against a wall and watched her do her magic with the men gaining her trust. He put his hands in his pockets.

Sasuke knew what cute meant now, and he would often use it in times when describing Hinata as being 'cute'.


	18. Start of Lessons

Start of Lessons

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I DO OWN THE TONS OF REVIEWS I'VE BEEN GETTING!!! YAY!!!**_

Every thing was squared away. The bed was in place and the dark blue couch was set in the living room where they now sat. Staring deeply in her eyes, Sasuke sat next to her putting a hand to her face, feeling her hair, looking for the reaction she would give.

She resisted blushing, "You look great." Her blush came instantly and a soft bonk on the head scolded her. "Baka..." She reverted back to her form.

So technically he was looking into her eyes which were actually his, kind of hard to explain. Touching her face that looked like his and feeling her locks of hair, which technically were supposed to be his.

"This is so hard..." She slumped in the new couch. She honestly was having trouble with Sasuke's personality, she didn't understand it at all, and it was frustrating her. She still felt uncomfortable around him even if she had spent hours with him that day.

He felt awkward telling her how he acted in situations and when you were alone. He had to, what if the ninja went to his house while he was gone to find Hinata there? She didn't have to act like him 24/7 just do it from time to time.

She studied the notes she had took when asking him questions, ranging from 'what is you're favorite food?' 'no comment' and 'what time do you train, and with who?'

Most questions answered with 'no comments' he didn't want to get too close to anyone, telling them the way he did things. But it was a mission, he did answer some of the questions he thought significant.

"Is it really that hard being me?" "O-Of course!" she tried cheering him up, he asked the question so solemnly. "Hmmph..." he put his chin into his cupped hand and leaned on it. Hinata was getting irritated and surprisingly courageous.

"W-Why don't y-you try to be me then?" her voice was barely a whisper. He blinked lifting his head up slightly. "Well...I don't feel like doing it." She huffed, "I-Is it r-really that hard being me?"

"I never said it was going to be hard. I just don't feel like I have to."

"Well, w-why not give it a t-try?" she gave him an encouraging smile. He wasn't convinced. "I don't want to I told you already." He leaned on his arm again. A good sized couch cushion was the gap between them.

Her shoulders went up a little and her hands went to her lap. Her attempts to socializing went wasted and she couldn't feel the will to move on. He sighed, _I guess...I could try... _He used his hand signs without warning and 'henge'.

A puff of smoke and Hinata turned her head to find none other than, "H-Hinata?" She was priceless, as gullible and naive as ever. "No remember, you're Hinata." Voice very stern and un-Hinata-like.

"Well I can tell now, you don't act like me at all." Hinata put her hand to her face and giggled.

The bell rang, loud knocks and yells on the other side of the door. "It's the dobe." In Hinata's voice it sounded well...very weird. Hinata looked at Sasu-Hina and Sasu-Hina looked back.

"Well? Let's see if you've learned anything." Sasu-Hina smirked, Hinata gulped, she felt uncertain about how to act and could only hope she was doing the write thing. "H-Henge!" A tall sturdy man now sat wear she was blushing a little, but shook it off.

(Sasu-Hina is Sasuke in Hinata form. Hina-Sasu is Hinata in Sasuke form. The first name is the actual person.)

She tried her best to remain composed, hands hanging on the sides _Check_, chin up _Check, _standing straight _Check,_ voice..._not Check. _She wasn't worrying about though, Sasuke rarely spoke so she would be fine.

"Hurry up." She turned her head, or his head, which ever you prefer. Sasuke was impressed and followed along with a skip in his step, trying to be girly...

"Hey Sasuke! Is Hinata-chan with you?" Hina-Sasu turned her head around looking at the now trotting Sasu-Hina heading towards them. "H-Hi..." Sasu-Hina immediately stopped and put her ...his fingers together.

"How's living with Sasuke going?" Naruto gladly let himself in and put himself in the middle of the couch. Sasu-Hina sat next to him a little too fast. "Fine" Hina-Sasu leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, blushing just faintly.

"Oi Sasuke, come sit with us. We'll talk about how we're going to arrange this whole Mission Impossible thing." Hina-Sasu reluctantly went to his side putting her arm on the rest and leaning on it, like how Sasuke did earlier.

Sasu-Hina took a mental note of how she copied most of his movements. She wouldn't have a problem with any identity thing, whatever that meant.

"...suke...Sasuke! You listening?" She snapped out of her daydreaming, Sasu-Hina hit his head, _I don't daydream Hinata!_ "Hinata are you okay? Is there a bug in here or something?"

Hina-Sasu laughed, "Sasuke! You're laughing for the first time in a while!" Naruto turned his head to Hina-Sasu, she blushed.

Sasu-Hina groaned, Naruto turned his head again, "You sure you okay Hinata-chan? I think you're picking up Sasuke's bad habits."

Hina-Sasu put her hand to her mouth trying to cover her smile and choked out a giggle. "Sasuke!? You're still laughing?! What's going on here?!" He turned his head back and forth between the two.

"Sasuke could you leave us alone for a minute?" Sasu-Hina perked an eyebrow up and Hina-Sasu gulped and left the room with her hands together on her lap. Naruto turned back to Sasu-Hina.

"Hinata-chan I-I'm going to get s-straight to the p-point!" Naruto was serious, he had both his hands on his knees and asked her errr him point blank. "Do you like Sasuke?"

Naruto left his eyes open for her reaction. There was no blush, _that's odd..._ "I don't know." _no stutter?_ Sasuke was acting like himself on purpose, he himself didn't know if she liked him, even just the slightest bit.

"Why do you ask?" Sasu-Hina decided to play with Naruto. He went a bit closer to the dobe, uncomfortably close; this made both of them have mixed feelings. But the feelings of course were different, Naruto's were more of a 'blushing' kind, Sasuke's were more of a 'puking' kind.

Sasu-Hina decided not to push the blonde too much, Naruto was blushing. Sasu-Hina tried to stand but Naruto held his/her wrist to stop.

"I-I think I kind of..." Sasu-Hina gulped, he really did not like the scenerio of Naruto blushing at him. HIM for Pete's sake even if he was in Hinata's form it was still a weird sight.

"N-Naruto what are you doing?" Hina-Sasu was standing above them with cups of tea on a tray. "Sasuke! I told you to give us a minute!" She shrunk a little. "I w-was a minute dobe."

Sasu-Hina chuckled; Naruto released her/his hand and put it behind his head. "I guess I'll tell you next time." Hina-Sasu gave a look to Sasu-Hina before setting the glasses down.

"I'll b-be in the r-restroom." She entered the guest restroom that was in the corner of the room. They were again left alone, somehow Sasu-Hina found it detestable being in Hinata's form and wanted out soon.

"Ne Hinata-chan forget what I said earlier! S-sorry..." His head again scratching the back of his head. _Does he have lice or something, geez._ Sasu-Hina made that comment only to cover up the fact that Naruto was nervous being around him, err Hinata.

_Does he really like her? What about Sakura? _Suddenly hot-warm water splashed on his/her chest. "What the?" Sasu-Hina stood dripping a bit. Naruto sat there his hand slanted and his other hand reaching to his mouth.

"So sorry Hinata-chan! Here let me clean it." Naruto grabbed a cloth from his jacket and unconsciously dabbed it to his/her chest. Both Naruto and Sasu-Hina blushed, Naruto's hand froze and stayed stuck on his/her chest.

A flush and a turn of heads went to the corner of the room. "Hinata!?" Yup! A Hinata was coming out of the restroom, her hands to her mouth she had forgotten to transform back to the Uchiha and she saw something she didn't want to see.

_The jig is up... _Sasu-Hina transformed back into Sasuke. Naruto's hand reflexed back into his jacket pocket. Sasuke's first experience of someone groping him, and it was a nightmare to his manliness. "Y-You guys switched?! It's not what it looked like! I spilled and, ughhh." He put his free hand to his face in embarrassment.

Hinata was also embarrassed, she could only say muffled 'I-It's okay' through her hands. This proved it to her, this time she knew that Sasuke was indeed a perverted person letting Naruto go on like that. (She didn't want to put the blame on Naruto)


	19. Sleepover Part One

Sleepover Part One

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

Sorry, I'm REALLY Late. But I was just so stoked about the 353(?) Chapter of Naruto that I'm having trouble thinking up stuff. Thank you for the LOVELY reviews, and I'll try to move things along here.

Sasuke felt that every time he came close to reading _The Princess, The Witch, and Two Best Friends_ (Pretty long title) he was interrupted. He had tried reading it that evening after Naruto had left and Hinata was out with her girl friends. Leaving Sasuke out of the loop, he felt ignored, and bored. He couldn't concentrate on anything.

He felt so irritated, in fact, that he ran into his door forgetting to open it! He grumbled and put opened the door of his room and went downstairs just in time, he heard people outside of his door.

He cautiously went up to it and put his ear up. He recognized one of the voices and ignored them. 'Knock knock.' "Sasuke! Open the door! Neji can see you standing there!" Sasuke put his arms over his chest like a girl, he felt violated with someone staring at him with those eyes.

The doorbell rang a third time that day. He swung the door open, "What do you want? I thought you were satisfied in groping me." Naruto pouted, Gaara, Kiba, Shino, and Neji's mouths hung.

"Long story don't ask. So what are you guys doing here?" They looked at one another, well Naruto and Kiba did. "Don't you want to see what the girls are doing?" "Not really." The door creaked about to shut, Naruto caught it before it could.

"Let's go out! You only have another day before your mission." What's the harm in letting these dopes have their fun? "What are you going to do? Stalk them?"

"Heck no! We're going to follow them casually and have a little fun!" The night was young and there had been plenty of things they could do. "Fine, let me get changed." He came back out minutes later in an airy dark blue collared shirt and black slacks, obviously one of the many pairs of clothes the girls got for him the other day.

"What are you wearing? We're on a recon mission! Well whatever we're late anyway, let's hurry." What was he wearing? What were they wearing?! Naruto and Kiba had two black stripes on their cheeks and they all had black hoodies on, Shino's hood was up. Sasuke had a bad feeling in the pit of his gut, everyone had a bad feeling other than the two loud mouths that led the way.

Hiding in the shadows of the lighted streets they headed towards their goal, the Hyuuga Mansion. "Where are the rest of the guys?" Naruto asked between jumps, Neji answered "Lee, Shikamaru, and Chouji are out on an ambush mission."

Naruto jumped on a restaurant sign and pondered on some more. His face went 'o' "Where has Sai been?" Shino passed by him without an answer, Kiba did the same.

"Has anyone seen or heard of him lately?" Gaara followed him and answered. "He's in the hospital." Blunt and straight to it, he Sasuke and Neji have a lot in common.

"I overheard The Fifth talking to Kakashi about it, seems his right arm and hand have been crushed. If it wasn't for The Fifth his bones may not have ever had a chance to recover on their own… she was very concerned for his future. I think there's more to it but I…"

Naruto frowned, "You fell asleep didn't you?" Gaara jumped several feet away from Naruto. "Geez Gaara no wonder you agreed to come with us. You're wide awake!" Kiba snickered and nearly stepped on Shino as he was landing. Sasuke wasn't having any trouble keeping up; he even had to slow down for them to keep up.

They entered the compound with ease, having a demon vessel, former demon vessel, a Hyuuga and Uchiha prodigy, and two of the heiress's best friends convinced the guards to allow them to pass. "Why are we doing this again?" Sasuke hushed his voice behind a bush.

"Why else?" Naruto smiled, "To mess with them!" Sasuke was under that command of a kitsune-idiot. The moon was glistening on the newly watered grass and all was fresh. Coy fish swimming unknowingly about the world around them, everything seemed peaceful and Sasuke rather have it that way. Sasuke was, if anything, only curious on what the girls were doing and what Naruto was going to pull on them.

"Count me out of this, I'm just going to watch." Neji put his hands up in a defensive matter. "Me too," Gaara and Neji with their weird ways of seeing things could easily spy on what Naruto was doing from afar.

Kiba put his hands behind his head "I didn't know we were going to prank them, Naruto. Smells like their having a slumber party though…" Kiba sniffed the air, "Chips, soda, ice cream, candy, and about every other junk food you could think of. He sniffed once more, "All of the kunoichi are in there, and you know who I'm talking about."

"That's perfect! Now you guys can sit and watch while I go and have a little prankster time!" Naruto dragged his bag over his shoulder and marched forward. The Hyuuga residence was huge and even the small section that Hinata was given would count as a mansion.

"Dobe, the girl's going to see you." Naruto froze, Sasuke was right, if Naruto showed an ounce of suspicion Hinata would use her bloodline limit to find out. "Don't worry about it, ero-sannin taught me few things on concealing myself. He says it's a grade A technique! You, Kiba, and Shino are the ones who need to find a way to see my FANTASTIC prank!"

"Don't act like you know everything about us, Naruto. Remember? I can turn into Akamaru, no problem!" "Naruto…Don't forget that I, also, have a technique that can make my body composition into that of bugs. I will merely hide on Akamaru (Kiba's) fur."

"Well then what about Sasuke?" Pairs of eyes locked onto the succeeded-avenger, he shrugged and said he would think of something. What would he do? He thought about it the whole time Naruto was setting traps, he would love to see Sakura and or Ino get attacked by flying pies or anything of the sort.

Naruto was extra quiet, Gaara and Neji didn't even notice he had come back from an exploration of the mansion. "You guys have got to see the GREATES PRANK EVER!!!" Naruto expressed himself to the fullest with a low tone voice.

Kiba had already started to scratch on the high balcony where lights and music came from. "Hide hide!" Kiba shooed them away, Shino on his fur. The door handles jiggled and Hinata came out wearing her normal plain pajamas, Neji feeling disappointed in not seeing her other sleep wear…

"Akamaru? Why are you here? Is Kiba with you?" She pet him and looked around, Kiba gave a bark. Wagging his tail he brought Hinata over to the very ledge of the balcony. Gaining her attention Naruto took his chance and swiftly entered through the door that was left open.

Sasuke would have followed, but she turned around too early for him and he stood his ground. The door shut closed tight and locked with Kiba, Shino, and Naruto already inside.

Inside the room Hinata brought a big cushion over to Akamaru (remember it's Kiba) and set it down near her bed. The room was frilly, canopy beds aligned on both sides of the wall. The girls were sitting in the middle of the room in a circle where a pit of pillows and stuffed animals lay.

"I can't believe your dad actually had this built for you whenever you wanted to have a sleepover." A maid brought over some cookies and gave them to Ino. "Ah thanks, but this place is so high class! My house could never compare to this!" She looked at the decorative designs on the ceiling, Naruto nearly fell off because she was staring right at him.

Of course his tricks weren't found out so early, his camouflage was of top notch! No way could anyone other than Kiba or Neji tell where he was.

"Don't say that Ino-chan, my father came up with the whole blue print to this section of the estate, even the decorations in this room he thought up of." Pop shot out in sprits. Sakura was the first one able to talk.

"Your dad came up with this cute room?!" _Either that man has a daughter-complex or he's bipolar! _Inner Sakura screamed, Ino and Tenten thinking the same. "Yes, but we barely use most of the rooms."

"Argh!" The girl's looked at each other, none of them made that sound. Temari just coming out of the wonderful bathroom also heard the yell. The grunt came from the corner of the room and the only one there was… "Akamaru? Was that you?! Can you finally talk?" Hinata squealed with joy being convinced that the grunt came from the dog.

Kiba was going crazy with what he should do, clearly no one would help him and he hadn't the slightest clue how to cover up the outburst by Shino. Shino, in flea form, was nestled quietly in Kiba's fur waiting for the trap to be set. Kiba absently scratched behind his ear vigorously hurting the defenseless Shino who was caught off guard. Therefore the result ended in a yell and a now forming rash on Kiba's back.

_Great job Shino! Now I'm going to have butt rash for the rest of the week. _Kiba had the urge to scratch and ignored the yell from earlier. Hinata upset that Akamaru had shook his head she sat back down pondering what possible thing had made that noise.

"Maybe it was the wind?" Temari asked and the girls stared at her _That 'Argh' was no wind. _"Hey don't look at me like that! I'm the mistress of the wind, for all you know it could have been just the neighborhood cat strutting by.

They drank their pop and tea accepting the idea 'it was just wind'. Meanwhile Naruto was halfway done with his trap and was doing some pretty high calculations with his head, of course this would take some time for him.

Sasuke was still standing outside with the quiet bunch who were observing how the girls were doing. He walked on near the pond thinking of a way to go into the house. He looked to the 'eye' pair that was sitting in the grass behind a wide tree. "Freaks…" Sasuke turned and went a couple of feet before Neji spoke up.

"Sasuke our eyes might be somewhere else, but our ears are still here." _True_, Sasuke had miscalculated; they were only looking in on the girls, God knows what other ways they could use their techniques for. Sasuke heard chuckling from both men, "What's so funny?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow approaching them in steady steps.

His blue shirt barely visible in the moon's light, "They're telling jokes." Sasuke took 'they' standing for the girls. "Wait, I thought you said your ears were here so how can you hear them?"

Neji and Gaara sighed, "Nobody said we can hear them, we can only see them. So how do you think we can tell what they are saying Sasuke? Can you, a supposed genius, figure that out?" Sasuke's anger meter was reaching a high limit he tries calming himself down by breathing deeply.

Thinking for a good ten seconds for his brain to analyze every single detail he came with an answer, "You guys are reading their lips?" This time only Gaara sighed, "Right conclusion _genius_."

A blood vain appeared on Sasuke's head. Sasuke made a mental rule, _Rule 1# Never have 3 quiet, smart, and deadly people in one room. _Sasuke thought of three since Neji and Gaara were fine with each other, as Sasuke was NOT fine with THEM. Either that or Sasuke is just really nonsocial.

Time passes by and Sasuke is the only one not joining in the program. He thought of just doing a simple concealment technique, but he would have been caught in seconds. He was getting tired of the restlessness and saw the balcony door creak open from the wind.

Seeing his chance he approached the door, thinking for a moment, he knocked on it casually. Sakura and Ino were putting on mud masks and saw Sasuke first. "S-Sasuke-kun! What are you doing here?" Both of them ran to the restroom to quickly wipe away the ointment.

_Sasuke-teme you better not be getting any ideas… _Naruto stood upside down camouflaged near the huge lamp above them. Tying a knot in various places with his wire he was all set. Now all he had to do was watch and wait for the right time…

To be continued…


	20. Sleepover Part Two

Sleepover Part Two

_**Hi, **_Long time no see! Not that I was THAT busy or anything, I'm just really lazy so sorry for the late update. I write when I have time so I can't put a set time limit to when the chapters will come out. I think I rushed a bit too much but hey! WHATEVER right? Thanks for your support!

Oh and yeah Sasuke can read lips but he can't see them through the window or walls or anything like that. He's outside ya know? But Thanks for tellin me this stuff, might have been confusin andjunk but yeah! BLAH BLAh ON WITH THE SHOW!

_**Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me**_

* * *

The girls' eyes were wide open, not only did the hottest guy in Konoha come into their room, he looked drop dead gorgeous. Sakura and Ino couldn't help but hold their blushing faces and scream his name. "Sasuke-kun!!!" They both grabbed one of his arms, pulling on his expensive outfit that they had picked out for him.

Hinata sat on a cushion pillow with a crease between her brows. She felt insecure, if Sasuke could have been out there undetected by any of the konoichi then who else could be out there. She felt a ball of sadness sink into her heart. She wanted to have the girls over for some girl time, but now it was ruined with Sasuke there.

They continued rubbing their faces on him and sniffing his scent, which Sasuke found odd. "So why are you here Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked while playing tug-and-war with Ino for Sasuke. His head went side to side giving him a major headache.

He broke away from them, thinking of a possible answer to her question, "I guess I'm here to make sure you girls don't get hurt by prowling perverts. Who knows, they might be in this very room watching you…"

Looking towards the corner at Kiba and Shino, they shuddered at thought of the girls pummeling them to a pulp. "Oh? Then what do we call you, our knight in shining armor? Face it; you're one of the perverts you're talking about." Sasuke eye's wandered to Temari; she wasn't convinced that he had just come over to 'protect' them. "We're all capable kunoichi here, so what's the real reason you're here?"

"Don't flatter yourself; I didn't come here to peep on you girls like some weird byakugan hormone crazed freak or a third eye sand lover." He spat true, and disturbing, words at them. A couple yards away outside that weird eye duo held a strange grudge against the Uchiha.

Naruto sat idly by on the ceiling and was watching for his chance at springing the trap. _Does Sasuke…know what he's doing? _Watching Sasuke wobble to the center of the room and sit on a pillow he was bombarded with questions that the girls kept bottled up since he came back.

"Sasuke-kun did you ever find the right girl?"

"Did you ever go out with other girls?"

"Do you have a girl in mind now?" "Okay stop, I don't have anybody, ever had anybody, ever kissed any girl while I was gone." He emphasized 'girl' because he kissed Naruto, a boy, so he said girl. "Maybe I should leave…" He stood up but was instantly dragged down by Tenten.

"Oh no you don't, you come here and disturb us so you better stay here till we're done with you. So we heard you got Hinata-chan a new bed at your house, don't you think that's a bit too cozy?" The gossip-obsessed kunoichi asked, her tongue as sharp as ever.

"Don't jump to any assumptions, I just want her to get as comfortable as she can."

"That still sounds pretty soft for someone like you." She pouted and sat back in a lazy position next to Temari. Sasuke was offended, hearing such information from someone he barely knows, heck , from anyone would seem barbaric.

"I'm a gentleman, leaving a young lady like Hinata to sleep on a bed other than her own would be ludicrous." Picking on a stringy pink pillow that he was sitting on, the girls almost thought he had an ounce of kindness in his personality. But it just turns out it was his basic cockiness of having a person over, and making it a comfortable stay for a good rep.

"Yeah Yeah, hey Hinata-chan what time is it?" Temari couldn't see the clock and leaned forward falling over Sakura who squealed indistinctively. Temari got up quickly dogging a purple cushion flying towards her. It ended up hitting a bed post and feathers floated out everywhere.

"I-It's almost twelve…" She said between stifled giggles. Hinata was a little sad Sasuke had come and disturbed their girl time, but if they liked it then it was fine with her. Bullets of pillows being flung in every direction made Naruto jealous seeing that he wasn't in the fight with Sasuke and the others.

A pillow hit the avengers face and he threw it back to where it came from. Hinata dogded it easily and landed in a heap of feathers as they all did, giggles and hearty laughs filled the air.

"Hahaha…"

"Hahaha"

"Hehehe"

"ACHOO!" The round of giggles stopped, they couldn't blame this one on the wind, they really heard something. Sasuke lay on the floor smirking a bit and feathers in his hair. He had resisted laughing that whole time to show off his cool composure. He brought himself supported by his arms and looked straight up.

Naruto's jutsu shut off on him and now he was completely visible. He rubbed his nose and looked down at the girls who were looking up at him. "N-Naruto-kun!?" Hinata covered her face with her hands and peeked through her smooth fingers. "Naruto!!!" Sakura looked ready to kill with one hit, which she probably could do.

"Oh shoot my jutsu! Uh…" He brought his hand to his head automatically. "Hiyya Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, girls…" He didn't bother stating the other girls' names and this upset them. "Now I make my amazing exit with a great finale!!!" He raised his arms as if he had a cape and cut an invisible wire, but during the process Neji and Gaara came into the room through a high window knocking down the blonde and themselves.

Screams and yells with group poofs of smoke began to erupt for about…five minutes…The trap was well thought out. Using the huge throw rug that was under the group of pillows where the girls were at he tied a strong wire to each corner. This brought them in a piled ball of bodies and pillows. Since Gaara, Neji, and Naruto fell they were caught in the jumble as well.

"Naruto!!!" Sakura pulled viciously on someone's hair.

"Sakura! Wrong person, it's me Ino!" Ino gave a hard slap into the jumbled up abyss.

"I-Ino-san t-that hurt." Hinata whispered. "Oh my gosh I'm so sorry Hinata."

"Yamanka don't hurt Hinata." Neji hit in two places punching Naruto in the gut and kicking Sasuke in his leg.

"Ouch Neji-teme!" "Cha! Naruto you deserved that!" Sakura gave a victory punch in the nonexistent air. Everyone was moving violently in the pile so she ended up hitting Sasuke. "Ouch…"

"Oh sorry Sasuke-kun." She hugged a body, "What? Since when did Sasuke have boobs?"

"S-Sakura-san! P-Please stop t-touching m-me there!" Hinata sqealed, Neji's face grew red with no one to see it. "Byakugan! Kiba! Shino! Help us out here!" He maneuvered himself to the far side to where Kiba had lazily sat. He poofed back into his real self and scratched behind his ears.

"Argh…" Shino came out from his flea from, scratches and bruises from Kiba's consistent scratching. He grasped Kiba by his collar. "I'm going to get you." Kiba was terrified, "Hehe…Of course…well we should get them out right?!"

They trudged on to the middle of the room, "Oh Kiba, Shino, wait!" Too late they had been sprung up by a trap and now they were dangling in the air with one leg tied to the string. "Naruto!!!" Kiba swung his arms around rapidly slamming into the rug sack filled with pillows and ninja.

"Let's just…!" Someone, probably Neji, cut the rug open avoiding everyone but he still hit some pillows that let out feathers and cotton puffs. The landed safely, "T-That w-was eep!" They were pulled up by wires around their legs and arms "N-Naruto-kun!" They were all lined up swaying side to side upside down.

Neji's killing intent on the kitsune kept on growing and Naruto ignored his glares and tried to free himself. "Oh yeah, I forgot about the second trap." Naruto got hit on the head by a swinging Sakura. "Get us out of this mess, and quit playing us with your pranks!"

"My hands are stuck to my side Sakura-chan!" Everyone looked around and struggled to free themselves. "Pfft!" They went into a fit of laughter at the sight before them. Sasuke, Gaara, and Hinata were stuck together in tangles of wire and plastered against one another.

"I-I can't breathe!" Hinata being stuck in the middle and being as small as she was, it was beginning to get dangerous. "Hinata hold on I can get us out of this." Neji tired cutting the chakra infused strings but to no avail. "Naruto what did you do to the strings? My techniques aren't working." Blood was rushing to his head from his byakugan activating too long and from being upside down made him light headed.

"Of course it isn't working, you don't have enough chakra! I embedded my own chakra into these things and they better be strong!" He was praising himself even if it meant getting hit the next day by fists and feet.

"Only person who can break them now is probably Sasuke, but he might hurt Hinata and Gaara." Sasuke didn't give a second thought to breaking the strings and hurting the others. He looked ridiculous upside down with two people attached to him. As soon as the wire was cut he caught Hinata incidentally and Gaara caught himself with his sand.

Sasuke powered up some kunai and threw them to sever the left over wires that held up the nin. Hinata left him and quickly rebounded back to the corner of the room to where Neji was. They had bruises on them and they looked like they got beat up by Naruto-clones.

Neji was tying up Naruto with some rope and threatening him with a pencil he had found on the ground. "This is a sharp pencil and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Neji-kun! Leave him alone! It's not like he did this to hurt us." She was bold and fearless against her cousin. Naruto thanked Hinata when he was set free and gave her a huge bear hug. He got embarrassed afterwards and left her with a blush on both their faces. Neji watching out of the corner of his eye.

The girls stayed getting ready to sleep and the boys left after cleaning up the mess they had made. The kuniochi fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. Hinata though stayed on the balcony to see the boys out. Naruto gave another curt thanks and jumped following an irritated Gaara who was also humiliated that night being stuck to two other people.

Sasuke stayed on the balcony with Hinata, the lights were off and only the moonlight illuminated them. He sat on the ledge and stared at her. She blinked back at him swiftly putting her hands in front of her lap.

She had never felt something as weird as that moment. All the time she spent with him has been weird as a matter of fact. If you had to describe it in words you would probably say 'wow'. He looked gorgeous and absolutely handsome. He cocked his head to the side innocently, "What?" She recoiled back and straightened herself out.

"N-Nothing, i-it's just that y-you're still here…" Her cheeks pink from the wind and the embarrassment earlier still not passed. She stared down at her bare feet on the concrete ground occasionally looking up to see if he had stopped staring and left yet.

He stayed and he continued to stare at her. She was so sweet and forgiving, had Naruto done this trick at Sakura's house he would have gotten broken in all his ribs. "I said I would protect you." She hesitantly looked into his eyes taking a step forward as she did so.

"R-Really? I don't remember…I'll wait here u-until you leave then…"

"Then I'll say it again, I'll protect you Hinata. Now hurry up and get inside before you catch cold." He stared at the full moon avoiding her gaze.

"B-But I have to wait for you to leave first…Everyone else is sleeping so I can wait…"

"Everyone else?" A thought occurred to him, "Did you not want to sleep in the same house as me? Do I repulse and scare you so much that you are not able to sleep?" His voice sounded pained and hurt, raspy and scarred, something not normal for someone like him.

"N-No! I just r-really wanted a s-sleepover so…I just…" Silence engulfed both of them, the wind picked up and let their hair drift around them.

"Lying doesn't suit you." His voice was calmer and hushed, but still raspy.

"Do you have a sore throat?" Her medical instincts taking over before she realized it. He blinked and his eyes were wide in surprise. She had completely ignored his previous statement. He smiled a little barely visible in the midnight darkness.

"Maybe just a little." She was worried for him, worried for his health. Even this small speck of sympathy from her made him forget about his steaming rage for her having a slumber party. Her eyes relaxed and her hand went up to his face touching his cheek just lightly.

He hadn't noticed her quick advancement towards him. Her soft and simple touch gave him a yearning to just jump and hug her to death. But it was faint, a very faint yearning as faint as the taste of sourness in a very sweet strawberry.

For him he would only follow a yearning if it was as strong as Naruto's love for Ichiraku ramen.

She put her hand back to her other one and bowed her head. She whispered "Please take care of yourself." The urge to hug her grew and instead of the hug he gave her something else.

A pat on the head, it was something someone would do with a dog or a little kid. But this was what he decided to do to control his urges, to nullify them from coming true.

"I will, you take care too." Low and deep, melodic voice of a God, as Sakura would describe it. Hinata blushed and it contrasted with her pale radiant features. "I expect you to be at my house tomorrow. We're going out." With that he left.

"Hai…We're going out…" She whispered to herself. Blinking rapidly at what she just said. _Going out?! He couldn't mean that, he must have meant something else…What should I wear? What are we going to do? _

The Uchiha had no idea why he said that, _we're going out…Huh?_ He was walking towards his house. The houses weren't too far apart or too close. It was an easily agreeable distance between them when they were made.

_Could I have possibly asked her out? What would we do? This isn't a date, it's going to be like…something…. Arghhh._ He spent the rest of his night time contemplating what he said and thinking of what he said.

Morning light peeked through his window through his blinds and curtains. One speck of light beamed to his right eyelid. He opened it and found himself on the ground surrounded by clothes and maps.

_What time is it? _Looking at the clock's hands it pointed to 10 and 12. _Ten? What? Did I stay up most of the night? _

The bell rang and he grabbed his stuff and his disheveled hair was tilted in all directions. He opened the front door and there was…


	21. Life Changing Departure

Life Changing Departure

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

Took a break, sorry this chapter is like suppperrr short. I'm having troubles with my laptop. Thank you guys for the encouraging reviews! I feel like I have betrayed you all somehow. –cries in a corner--

"Well isn't this a nice visit. What did I do to deserve an honorable visit from the famous sand siblings?" He leaned against the door facing Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. Sasuke was beginning to hate unexpected visits, having so many of them would make anyone sick.

"Kankuro left a day earlier than reported so we're leaving now. The sooner we go the faster you can come back." Temari yawned; she and the girls had been fake sleeping last night eavesdropping on Hinata's conversation with Sasuke then afterwards they interrogated the Hyuuga to no end.

"But I haven't even packed yet." Sasuke shuffled through his closet near the entrance to grab some ninja gear. _What do I say to Hinata? Well at least I don't have to think of something to do today. _His eyes rolled up to look at the ceiling as he contemplated his options.

1. Stay for a while longer and go somewhere with Hinata.

2. Set your problems free by forgetting about the whole thing.

3. Apologize to her and rearrange another meeting after the mission.

4. Figure out why the heck he cares about any of this.

"Do you have a date or something Uchiha?" She tried to sound oblivious to the fact she heard everything the night before. "Be a real man and tell her the real reason, she's nice, she'll forgive you."

"And exactly who are you talking about Temari-san?" He arched a brow; she gulped and retreated her comment. He figured her out, _so they were listening._ Settling on what the sand kunoichi suggested to do he quickly packed his stuff and said he would meet them at the main gate.

He paced, he wasn't running just taking really big strides at a really fast temp. Okay maybe he was jogging a little but he wouldn't admit it even to himself. He couldn't understand why he had said 'going out' the night before. Was there a real reason to any of it? Or had it just slipped out of his mouth?

Sasuke turned the sharp corner dodging someone who was also 'jogging' or 'sprinting' to their destination. He went another two seconds without looking behind him when his curiosity took over his body in an instant. His eyes turned and locked on with the other person's. He stopped so fast he almost fell.

"Hinata!" "Sasuke!" They stared at each other catching their breaths, people passing them by ignoring them. He regained his composure and stood in front of Hinata, still and quiet.

Sasuke didn't know what to do. Telling her the truth would be the best way and forgetting about the 'going out' would have been best as well. Sasuke waited for her to speak instead of talking first.

She was breathing normal now and ruffled in her jacket pocket to take something out. She bowed and gave him a book. "Yesterday you said we were going out? You meant you and the sand nins right? Well I thought before you go you bring this with you!"

Sasuke sighed, _she's just as dense as Naruto, but thank god she did. _Putting one hand to his temple massaging it and took the book from her. "Did you get this from my room?"

"Um… Yeah…I went to your house to see you off and opened it with the spare key you gave me. S-Sorry…I just w-went into your room t-to see i-if you were there…" Sighing again he looked between his fingers and stared at her. "I w-wasn't sure i-if you finished r-reading it, I'm s-sure you'll have a lot of f-free time while y-you're in Sunagakure."

"Yeah, I'm sure I will. Well I have to get going." He turned back towards where he came from and passed by Hinata. Clearly confused she hesitated to ask him why he had called out to her earlier. Making a bold move she grabbed his wrist before he could pass completely by her.

"S-Sasuke umm i-isn't there s-something you wanted to t-tell me?" He looked back at her, her grip on him tightening and loosening as her mind battled on whether or not to let him go or not. The wind blew a nice breeze and he answered her.

"Just that…" He turned facing her completely, "that ever since that day that I was released of the curse seal, you were always there. Every single day I keep on running into you." She blushed a little wider.

"Well what I'm trying to say is…" He poked one of her cheeks with a finger. "I'm going to miss seeing…" _You. _"your silly face." A smoke puff of embarrassment came out of her head.

"Sasuke!" He snickered running towards the front gate where he was to meet the sandies, Hinata close on his tail.

"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto ran besides him, looking back at a fuming Hinata. "Aren't you leaving soon? And why does Hinata look ready to smack you in the head?" Sasuke was so into the little moment he had with Hinata that he ignored Naruto.

They stopped at the gate and Sasuke signed out on a piece of paper in a little hut next to the gate. Two very familiar nin sat idly by waiting for any in or out visitors. Sasuke looked around and saw that only three people came to see the pack off.

Naruto, since he was the best buddy of Sasuke. Hinata, she saw the pack off since they did have a mission to defeat who ever it was trying to kidnap her. And Shikamaru was there seeing Temari off.

"When do you think you're going to return to the village, Sasuke?" Naruto gave him a tough jab into Sasuke's shoulder as a sign of 'this is what buddies do to each other.' Sasuke returned the gesture and gave a 'this is what I do to my buddies' kick.

He sighed while Naruto got up from the ground dusting off the foot print on his orange jacket. "Don't know, who knows how long it will take. I'd say with careful studies it would take a month to figure everything the enemy ninja are planning and to make them stop as well."

"A month??? What about your birthday party? I was hoping to hit the bars or something. Right Hinata-chan?" She shrugged and gave a nervous smile. Sasuke knew that she probably couldn't hold her liquor. She didn't have any at the ball party so he could only assume.

"Well there are going to be plenty of parties Naruto, just go to one of those." Picking up the bag that was leaning against his leg he set it tight on his back. Naruto gave one last jab into Sasuke, but this time instead of standing there like an idiot he jetted 10 meters away from Sasuke and yelled a good bye.

Sasuke being Sasuke couldn't let him get away with it. So like usual he gave Naruto his punishment. With quick speed he ran past Hinata and back again in split seconds. Naruto retreated to the Ramen stand that wasn't too far from him and got an ice pack.

Sasuke now alone with Hinata and with some time to spare since Temari and Shikamaru were talking crack to each other. Sasuke gave Hinata some advice that would affect the Hyuuga for a long time.

"Hinata become stronger, you don't want to be a burden to everyone do you? Go on a trip or journey or something, change yourself for the better. But the next time I see you. You better be stronger by then." Sasuke was trying to be nice, in a twisted sort of way, left on these words.

Hinata couldn't believe it, those were the only words he had to say to her? She thought on them deeply and took note on it. The next time Sasuke Uchiha sees her she would be a changed person.

* * *

Having arrived at Suna an hour before he had relaxed into his bed. Three days have gone by. His face emotionless and cold that had just begun to crack due to Hinata's warmth would only become harder and even more cold as the month would slowly go by.

He took out the book Hinata had lent him. He finished reading it during their breaks while traveling here.

_The witch had loved the knight ever since she saw him enter the forest. She had met him before you see, but never realized how much she truly loved him. She knew of the bandit and princess's love for each other. In order for the knight not to get hurt she placed that spell on him to never be able to talk to her again._

_ That may have caused the knight to hate her, but she would rather have that then his heart breaking into little pieces. The knight soon found out that the newly found bandit/fool and the new outgoing princess were to be married. He withdrew in his manor to be the lonely knight._

_He found out that the witch was trying to protect him as well. He went in search for the witch to find that she was just as lonely as he was. Slowly...but surely they began to create feelings for one another. He realized that he loved the witch and was going to say so one fateful night. _

_She waited for him to speak near a moonlit river. He was unable to speak, he had waited so long to say any feelings of love to his love. The cold witch being as bitter as she was renowned for gradually began to understand why he did not speak to her anymore. The spell she had casted was not merely for him and the princess. It was for him and the one he loved._

_She could never cry tears of joy, but she showed a true genuine smile to the knight. Who showed a warm smile to the witch as well. They lived happily ever after in the forest that showed the full moon and the night forever. For they were their own sunny place._

_The End._

Sasuke actually read the whole thing without gagging on the sweet parts. Like most people he tried putting actually people he knew as the characters in the book. The whole things was obvious to tell who was who. Of course the foreign bandit and fool was Naruto, and the new outgoing princess must be Hinata, although she's not that outgoing. The lonely knight must have been himself and the knight-obsessed witch must be Sakura. He shivered at the thought of being with Sakura his whole life.

He recalculated everything in his head again making sure everything made sense.

Narutobandit

Hinataprincess

Sasukeknight

Sakurawitch

Everything looked in order and he was quite proud of himself for thinking of such a plan. But even this heart melting story won't stop the coldness that would creep into Sasuke's heart the next month he would be gone from Konoha.

Hinata made plans on her own, disguising herself as Sasuke and going into Sasuke-mode whenever she had to go out. She made arrangements for something as well with the hokage. She wanted to get stronger, she didn't want to be a burden, she wanted to change!

And so the month's time soon to wear off...and it was almost the end of July...


	22. What's Going On?

What's Going on?

_Hey everyone! Long time no see. Well I've been lazy. Yup that's all I have to say about why I haven't been writing. LAZY. I don't know about you guys but I think the story is pretty weird__**. I might drop it**__. Ya know let it die out by itself. Eh, who knows! Thanks for the L-O-V-E-L-Y reviews btw! OH and I have a question._

_Do you think the way I write is bad? (Like you think I should put more space in the paragraphs, or that the way I write confuses you people.) Any of that? Just anything wrong with me?! Please review it._

_**Disclaimer: Yeah we all know I don't own Naruto so LETS BEGIN THE SHOW!**_

* * *

The sky was sunny and clear of any clouds which Nara Shikamaru found boring.

He was patiently waiting at the main gate for the guests to arrive that day to escort them to hokage's office. Playing with the white stick in his mouth he let himself relax for even the tiniest bit that day.

The cicadas were singing their song of annoyance and a heat wave was obscuring the view past the gate. Shikamaru squinted to get a better look at the black blob that was slowly advancing to the gate.

The blob split into individual ones and soon became a series of colors.

He stood up from his seat in the hut and was ready to greet the kazekage and his companions that entered konoha grounds. He took a note card out of his front pocket and began to read.

"It is a great honor to be able to escort you, _insert name here_—uh I mean the kazekage and his fellow siblings, through konoha and its special sites. If you look past all of the buildings you will see the Hokage monument that we, the citizens of konoha, are proud to present."

They all sweat dropped. "Shikamaru you do this every time we come here can you just skip it this once?" Temari put her hands on her hips. He sighed a bit.

"It's troublesome, but the hokage told me to say this every single time you come into the

village. Probably to tick you guys off or something." He turned on his heel and took out the sucker from his mouth.

"Well let's get going then." He glanced back at a dark figure that stood behind the sibs.

They went into the hokage's office after some walking and boring narration from their tour guide. Tsunade was sipping quietly on some sake and stared at one particular person out of the whole group.

"So how did everything go? You didn't send any messenger birds so I assumed you all died." She put her hands folded together in front of her face. They paused and looked at her again, they didn't change their expressions once.

"Okay, I'm kidding but really how did everything go?" Gaara walked towards her desk and handed her a scroll.

"We went to The Land of Water to speak to the Mizukage about these attacks. Even though we have past differences they were openly obedient to our arrival there. Since we do have an old treaty with them we decided to do only a bit of negotiating." Tsunade nodded and told Shizune to pull up a chair for the kazekage.

"So what is this scroll?" She played with it in her hands not wanting to open it.

"That is a copy of the temporary renewal of the peace treaty that we, Sunagakure, and you, Konohagakure, have agreed upon a couple of days ago." She placed the scroll lightly on the table thinking.

"I'm guessing Sasuke, since he is a konoha citizen and honorable shinobi, signed the contract in his own blood." He nodded. Temari and Kankuro glanced at the silent Uchiha standing between them.

"They weren't satisfied with his signature and so they want me to travel to The Land of Water and begin the main negotiations there?" Gaara blinked and folded his arms together.

"You're quite observant. That is what they are planning, for you to leave the village." She burst out from her seat.

"We can't do what they want!" Gaara put his fingers between his brows and sighed.

"But we must, not just for Hinata Hyuuga's sake, but the sake of the citizens. Right now I'm away from my own village, but not many other enemy villages have the time or power to take us down."

"True, but—"

They were interrupted by knocks at the door. Sasuke stepped aside and allowed the door to swing open. Team eight, minus Hinata, was there Akamaru coming in last; covered in blood and dirt.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we have to report from our Rank B mission." Kiba glared a bit to his right while walking past Temari and Kankuro. Seeing Sasuke he whipped his head back to his front giving a small grimace.

"Here's the report I put in this folder while on the site." Kurenai pulled out a small folder that was slightly covered in blood.

"Haven't I told you that that's dangerous Kurenai?" She smiled, but that soon faltered to a frown. The repetitive tapping of Akamaru's tail hitting the ground and the nice breeze in the air that came through the window gave her and uneasy feeling of peace.

But of course they weren't at peace at all. If things took a turn for the worse they may have to break out in a full on war.

The team bowed to leave when the hokage asked a question.

"Where's Hinata-chan?" The question was random, it had been lingering in all of their minds. The hokage knew most likely where she was, but asking to make sure wouldn't hurt.

Kiba and Shino shrugged, Akamaru gave a small whimper. Kurenai snapped at them like turning a page in a book. It was not often you would hear old team members not remember where the other was.

They were experts at survival skills and scouting. Knowing where the other companion was is a must in perfect formation. Although they had broken their team as they went into jounin level they were still considered very experienced ninja and was highly recommended only as a team.

"Sorry Tsunade-sama, I wish I knew where she was also. Now if you please excuse us again…" They left the office, which Sasuke wished he could do, but knew better to leave without proper consent.

Tsunade felt his eagerness. "Sasuke since things are still very choppy about the peace treaty allow Hinata to stay with you for the time being. You may leave now." He didn't wait for her to finish the sentence before his foot stepped out of the doorway.

The day still bright and hot a sneeze filled the air of the training ground. Naruto laughed a little sitting in the shade of a huge tree that he didn't know the name of. A Sasuke figure beside him blushed putting a hand to his nose.

"G-Gomen…" She whispered between her fingers. Naruto could never imagine the real Sasuke being so…girly! Though the Sasuke figure was as masculine, tall, and pale as the real Sasuke and he had been wearing Sasuke's clothes.

The figure wasn't gay looking just a bit more charming and girly. Picking up a tissue with knees slightly knocking each other, sitting on his (her?) legs like a married house wife, giving Naruto TEA like a married house wife, every detail that men usually have was replaced with well…Hinata-like motions!

Of course coping with the idea that it was indeed Hinata and not Sasuke, he wished that she could return to her true form already.

When ever he saw Hinata she was always in Sasuke-mode. They would train together often to keep up with appearances since Sasuke was Naruto's biggest rival.

But the 'Sasuke' next to him was a little different. After awhile her transformations of him were beginning to look more different each time.

This one had big soft eyes, not the usual ice cold ones, and well it was hard for Naruto to describe why the feeling still felt different.

She noticed her posture and changed it to an Indian-style sit. Being more aware of her actions she put her hands down to her sides holding a cup of tea sipping slowly. She caught Naruto's stare at her, they both blushed being caught looking at each other.

"So Hinata-chan, do you think you're going to have to stay with Sasuke-teme while this whole thing is being settled out?" She pondered in thought and gave a high toned 'hn' trying to sound a bit like Sasuke.

Naruto laughed, but realizing her answer was probably a 'hn'-yes- he slowly echoed out of laughing. She took a napkin and put it to his face to wipe away the rice stuck to it. Making him blush rapidly adding on to the blush he just had before.

Startled by his reaction he stood up quickly forgetting he had hot tea in his hand. It slipped and gave a stain to his pants. "Ita! Hot!" He jumped around almost taking his pants off.

The splintering pain was almost unbearable, if 'she' was the real Sasuke he would have jumped out of his pants the moment the tea hit his legs.

"N-Naruto-kun, are you ok?" She stood up and went to him with her right hand to her chest and her left reaching towards his arm. Yes, that was not very 'Sasuke'-like.

"I'm fine I just wished I could have had that tea though. Hehe…" Rubbing the back of his head only half realizing his hands were sticky from the rice balls and tea.

"We should get you out of those clothes fast." Naruto's face was blushing uncontrollably now. It scared him that he was blushing at a 'Sasuke' impersonator, but it felt to him as though Hinata was just Hinata right then.

Hearing her put her guard down and saying 'we should get you out of those clothes fast' in her own voice he couldn't help but have a bit to imagination to how wrong those words sounded.

"N-Naruto-kun a-are you listening? We should go to S-Sasuke-kun's house since its closer." He smiled sheepishly and went about to walking and stopping waiting for Hinata to pick up the little picnic he so happily forgot about.

After a few minutes of walking they found their way to the Uchiha house. Naruto remembered so clearly the last time he was here.

About to confess that maybe he had feelings he didn't understand to Hinata. Frustrated at that time that it was truly Sasuke he was with; making a fool out of himself he gave a discouraged sigh.

The house was cozy, feeling both old and new, with only part of the house being renovated to the Uchiha heirs liking. He had expanded the kitchen and adding a touch of a more modern look of blue to it.

Keeping only the sink and small tea table that he thought he should keep since it reminded him so much of how his mother and father would spend time when they were at home. He moved the tea table to more of a coffee table to the living room and a regular square dining table in a space in the kitchen.

Of course Naruto hadn't had a clue that most of the things changed. Only hearing from Sasuke before he went into isolation that he was having the house changed wasn't giving any big details or anything.

"The shower is upstairs down the hall the last door to your left. Leave your c-clothes outside o-of the door i-if you w-would… I'll wash them for you." He nodded and went quickly upstairs to take off the horrible looking 'accident' he had on his pants.

She sighed waiting for him to get changed she poofed back to her old self. Still standing in the entry way she made her way to the window to the left of her. The window looked new and so did the wall around it.

Sasuke liked having a secure home she would have guessed since there should have been a traditional line of bamboo doors down the path of the wall.

She pushed open the window's two doors. The outside hall where you would walk upon to the family dojo was still there. She had walked on it before, revisiting the old dojo and cleaning it from time to time.

The outside boundary walls were the only thing she could see past any of the downstairs windows, she truly did not like the feel of the isolation the place gave off.

Hearing that the shower was turned on upstairs she made her way to the bathroom and picked up his clothes and went towards the laundry room. Cleaning away the dust and dirt that lied on his clothes she took out anything that she might have ruined if she put it in the wash.

There was a half-empty frog purse, some ramen coupons, his headband, and many other thing but something that had stood out was a picture of his team when they were genin. She stared at it for a while remembering his still goofy smile back then and how he was in love with Sakura. Heck he was probably still in love with her.

Hinata frowned, thinking of such things was like her, her father who had called her nothing but a pessimist back then.

She curved her lips upward a little, but she knew better now, her father was just trying to change her bad habit of thinking of the worst. It was a weird way to teach your daughter a lesson but at least he tried to do something.

She couldn't believe how she had thought of him when she was fifteen. A grumpy old man, was what she, and Neji, thought most of the time. Trying to figure that man out was as hard as trying to find a four leaf clover in a five leaf clover field. What a weird way to describe it.

Her thoughts getting the best of her she quickly put Naruto's clothes into the washing machine putting his belongings in a little straw basket she had bought for herself.

Hearing the running water stop she went back to the bathroom upstairs remembering that he didn't have a change of clothes.

Surprised to see him outside of the bathroom already wearing a dark blue bathrobe that she had bought for Sasuke since their little run-in in the hallway before he left, she blushed trying to see if he was comfortable at all wearing a medium sized robe on his body.

The water dripping from his almost dry hair went down his rippling pecks that she could see just barely. He was also blushing, harder than ever before might I add, realizing that it was much easier to act like himself in front of Hinata when she was in Sasuke form. But now he had to try to be a gentleman although looking almost barbaric in the robe.

"Aw, sorry Hinata-chan I kinda used this robe without asking. Really sorry bout that!" To her he was acting a little stranger than before and she had no idea why. Naruto was actually overjoyed that he finally got to see Hinata in her actual form!

He liked seeing her own eyes worry for him, be happy to see him, going through all these emotions just for him! Instead this past month he saw Sasuke's eyes worry for him, being happy to see him, going through all the emotions just for him. If he wasn't so sure that it was really Hinata he would have hit Sasuke for just looking at him like that.

They could hear a rustle near the front door, Hinata went to check who or what it was. Naruto following out of his own curiosity forgot that he only had a robe on.

Hinata was accustomed to how everything was in the house. Walking down the wooden stairs hearing creaks from the first and last step. She reached for the door handle that was already twisting and turning oddly. The door would get jammed if opened incorrectly.

She concentrated on the door knob blocking out the questions Naruto was asking her. She was pulling on the door to open and someone was pushing, pushing with so much force it almost threw her when it opened.

Sasuke expected her to be on the other side, he could feel the soft tugging and he could hear the grunts of effort she made. The door did have problems of its own, but that wasn't why they door wouldn't open. He was holding it from his side wondering if he could face her after what he had said when he left.

But when he saw Naruto in his house in a blue bathrobe, that he assumed Hinata had got for himself, he felt something instantly take over him. Being Sasuke he maintained himself.

"Sasuke! Y-you're h-home…" She realized Naruto was still only in a bathrobe, if anyone else looked in the house they would have thought it was a love triangle between the three and Hinata had just…with Naruto.

"Ano…" Sasuke kept quiet taking in all the information his eyes had one step at a time. Naruto obviously seeing what the problem was here tried to tell things straight to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-teme its not what it looks like. I just came here to take off my clothes and…aww wait that doesn't sound right. Well my clothes were hot and sticky so Hinata took them to wash them in the washing machine. The reason why it was hot and sticky was because I spilled the tea when Hinata and I were out training. So she insisted I take a shower at your house and uhh…" He wheezed unable to breathe, saying everything in one go was only something Naruto could do.

Sasuke stared at Hinata, not even caring that Naruto was explaining to him everything. He knew Hinata wouldn't ever do anything like that…well he knew that she didn't have the courage to do so. He sighed.

"Get dressed and get out of my house." He obviously didn't care anymore about the problem. He was tired and just wanted some much deserved sleep. He went upstairs and slipped out of sight of the two nin that stood in the entry way.

"Ne, Hinata-chan are my clothes still in the wash? Cause I don't know if I want to be stuck in his robes any longer." Naruto shook at the semi-cold draft that came through the open door and sneezed.

"Naruto-kun, g-gomen... they should be done soon enough." She said barely stuttering. During her time in Sasuke's body she had done some voice therapy on herself as well. The stuttering came back now and again, but it was a lot less now.

She went off as quickly as she could to the small laundry room in the basement which she had to find for herself, the basement was very spacey the cement flooring unwelcoming to any visitors.

Naruto came downstairs peeking in on what she was doing. Her hair was up and sleeves rolled to above her elbows. The sight was refreshing and motherly. Never having a mother changed the way Naruto thought of things.

He wanted to protect this girl that was giving him these odd feeling that he couldn't express. He wanted to make sure nothing bad would happen to her. Make sure she will always be there in arms reach.

Maybe he did have a crush on her, that would explain the feelings, but what about Sakura? Yes she was very beautiful and sometimes kind when she wants to be. He was torn between the two women he had longed for.

Thumps from above him shook him out of his thoughts. Sasuke was awake and he was still there!

"Ne Hinata-chan! Are my clothes still wet?" He surprised her, she held his pants that were, of course, still dripping wet.

More noises came from upstairs clearing in the basement door. He had to think fast.

"I have to leave now!" he whispered to her and took the wet clothes from her hands. She wished she could have dried them at least. He would be walking down the street in the robe she lent him.

He grabbed his shirt that was inside the washing machine and turned smiling to her. "Bring my stuff tomorrow okay? We can go on another date!" He laughed teasingly. She smiled back at him.

Then almost absent mindedly he gave her a peck on the cheek. His face was hot and so was hers, he almost regretted it, almost.

"Well, ano…see ya later Hinata-chan!" He ran up the stairs not caring if Sasuke saw him or not.

Sasuke was in the kitchen finding something to chow on. His stomach was giving him a hard time to sleep. Eating camp food wasn't really something he wanted to eat for three days straight.

Hinata came through the doorway of the basement with a hand to her cheek. Sasuke would usually poke fun out of her, but only remembering that she wouldn't care what he would do or say to her.

She was the princess that was destined to be with the bandit. Never believing in those petty fairy-tale books when he was young, he thought it gave too much false hope to naïve little children.

So why was he accepting the fact that she was the princess? She could have been any other character in the story. But Hinata did feel a bit princessy, she was an heir to a prestigious family after all.

Letting the thought of changing roles in the story slide he resumed looking for some snackage to eat. The refrigerator was bare and almost empty. Closing the door he saw a list of groceries that needed to be bought.

Taking the list he put a hand through his hair walking into the living room to leave for shopping. He would leave it to Hinata but there was something missing on the list that she didn't write down.

He needed it, of course cravings for something was something the Uchiha had to fulfill in one way or the other.

He headed towards the door putting on his shoes slowly. Hinata was sitting quietly in the living room and was aching to ask where he was going. Staring at him while he put on his shoes she saw the list he had in his hands.

He turned his head and looked back at her. Wondering what the hell she wanted from him.

"What is it?" He strained his eyes to look at her face clearer. She gulped down fear engulfing her for only a second.

"I-If you want I could go shopping with you." The sentence was forced, but she really intended on going by herself before. Now there would be company and she didn't want him to go alone.

"Hn." He headed out the door not waiting for her to slide on her sandals. The sun was high in the sky beaming its rays of light to the dry earth underneath it.

The market place wasn't a good place to go when the sun was so high above. The little roofs of shops trying to shade the customers without always succeeding in its quest to gain the consumers comfort to shop their.

People burst through the market streets passing others that were busy with their affairs. Children playing with water guns chilled with ice cold water. Squirting the Uchiha as he passed by the kids amused at the face he would make at them.

His scorning frown made it hard for Hinata to have a peace in her mind. Though everyone around her was laughing and enjoying their time she couldn't help but feel responsible for him being outside.

If only she did the shopping before he came home. The children squirted him again in the back of the head. He began to humor them, accepting the fact that they would leave if he left them alone, giving not a retort of any facial expression.

The water was cooling him down in truth. Having such dark hair such as his would burn his scalp off. But he wouldn't trade his hair for anything in the world.

Not because just because he looked silly being bald, but because it marked him as an Uchiha his black eyes saying also.

The only other person he knew that had such dark hair was standing right next to him. He glimpsed at her enduring the heat she went through training just to withstand.

Her hair glistening and waving as the sun and wind picked up on it. He couldn't see how she could stand it. Having so much hair absorb all of that heat, it must have been something in her to keep her standing like that.

The Hyuuga wasn't even sweating, Sasuke's mind was so stuck on the heat that he was beginning to wish the kids would squirt him more. Hinata on the other hand wasn't even thinking about the heat, just a place to find some good vegetables.

He was so concentrated on staying cool he didn't know that Hinata had taken the shopping list out of his hands, after asking him to give it to her several times she just decided to take it. Reading the list while dodging other people could have been a hard obstacle to accomplish.

Even so she didn't have a problem with it. More or less it was like training to her. They finally made their way to a nice little outdoor store that was a grand vegetable and fruit market. Hinata went idly by picking up some vegetables and paying for them at each stands vendor.

Sasuke's eyes wandered, looking for what she didn't have on the list. He made his way to a stand that had what he was looking for. Hinata followed out of curiosity.

Tomatoes, it was tomatoes that he wanted to get. The thoughts flowing out of Hinata's head made her smile. Sasuke bought a bagful and carried the bag throughout their whole time in the market. Fear of them being squished between the other vegetables that Hinata was carrying.

Hinata knew something was different with Sasuke. He didn't ask how she was doing with his request for her to get stronger. She felt miserable and shaky, she knew she had done or said something to make him mad but she didn't know what.

They had spent a month apart from each other. Maybe he needed some time before he could get used to things again.

Sasuke's mind was fighting itself. Itachi was gone and so was Orochimaru, but why did he having this aching feeling that something was wrong.

His eyes were burning, was it the sun? In Suna his eyes felt irritated he figured it was just the sand there. But now he was sure of it, something was wrong with his eyes.

He put a hand to his eyes covering them party from the sun. They were walking in deep silence out of the market place and into the training grounds that was a shortcut to his house.

"S-Sasuke?" She whispered struggling to hold the bags of groceries.

"What?" He glared at her and her shoulders shook as a reaction.

"A-Are you feeling okay? You've been massaging your eyes for a long time." She was right. Even now they were in the shade of a tree.

Staggering he leaned on the tree and let him slide down to its trunk. It was quiet here, and he wasn't lonely, he had Hinata who was always quiet. He didn't want to be alone, but it wasn't as if he enjoyed her company.

She sat next to him, seeing that he wasn't going to get back up in some time. She indulged her self in the peace and quiet. Her elbow knocked into Sasuke's but he didn't move.

He couldn't, he felt if he moved something bad might happen. He could feel his sharingan activate by itself and rotated slowly. His breathing became sharp and shallow and sweat ran down his neck.

Hinata watched worried, she never saw him so vulnerably weak and in pain. He was weak in the hospital the first time, but she didn't see how much pain he was in.

"Sasuke…? Something's wrong with you…Can you hear me?" She said it in nice soft words. In situations like this you had to be calm and in charge.

"We have to get you to the hospital, or at least to Tsunade-sama." She put her arm up to reach him but was cut off.

"Don't touch me." She hesitated.

"B-But y-you seem like your in pain! You look f-feverish too…" He was gasping for breath now, it felt like he was breathing through a straw.

"Just don't touch me." He exhaled feeling everything in his body begin to burn. Crawling under his skin, aching from any physical contact he had. His grip on the bag of tomatoes released sagged to the side.

"S-Sasuke…something's on your s-skin. We have to take you to Tsunade-sama!" His eyes burst open and he looked at the palm of his hand. Black spots spreading and flowing through his body.

She urged him to go to Tsunade-sama for help. She couldn't touch him, it was an order that he made clear. She could see him sharingan flicker on and off and him wincing at the pain.

"W-Why is this happening…?!" She activated her byakugan. His pressure points clear to her, they were overflowing with chakra. She understood now the pain he must be in.

He sat still for a moment, blocking out the sound of Hinata's quiet voice. She was useless, he decided at that moment, she was useless to him. He shouldn't make contact with her more than he needed to.

But wasn't he doing that before? Wasn't he being his usual self around her? _Who knows…_

He opened his eyes to see Hinata had left him.

_Useless. _

His face looking paler and the marks on his skin were retreating back to wherever the hell it came from. He closed his eyes, they were feeling the pain the most.

He tried to relax, but every second the world seemed to get colder. Was he dying? No he couldn't have been, but it sure felt like it.

He didn't need Hinata, being away from her for a month proved it. All he needed was himself, he was all he had left. Everyone else in his family was dead, he even killed the only other one that was left.

So he definitely didn't need her. He didn't need Naruto. He didn't need anyone.

He could feel his mind slipping, so he let it drop. Drop into a white abyss.


	23. A Normal Talk

A Normal Talk

Hi everyone, kind of bored of summer and feeling tired everyday. This is called being LAZY. This chapter aint that much either, but at least it's a little something to think about. Thanks all for the reviews, I know I haven't been a good writer. [ At least the last chapter was 5 times longer than the other ones. I think...well here we go.

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The smell of alcohol and bleach wafted into his nose. The beeping of a machine made his ears twitch. Each beep sounding felt like a ton of bricks hitting his head. 

He opened his eyes only to close them shut tightly from the bright light. His head hurt and it felt as though he had a hangover. But he didn't drink the day before. Or the night before…How long had he been sleeping?

Did he drink and forget about it? What was he doing before this? Where was he?

Questions spun in his head. Feeling nauseous and sick, but fully aware of the three pairs of feet that stepped into his room, he listened intently on their conversation feigning sleep.

"Tsunade-sama i-is he going to be…okay?" Hinata's voice was quiet and raspy. No doubt that she was crying over something as silly as whatever situation he got himself in.

"Well he's going to live if that's what you're asking." She readjusted the needle that was in his arm. The IV was connected to him properly enough without making too much of an ache.

"W-Why…is he…l-like this…hic…Tsunade-sama?" Sasuke heard his heart pound against chest. There must be some sort of medicine in him 'cause he was starting to feel woozy.

"I think he strained his eyes is all. He's been relying on the sharingan most of his ninja life and I'm guessing since it's having trouble his body must be having trouble as well."

Hinata turned to the third person that had entered the room with them. Sasuke could hear her voice become even shakier then it was before even if she wasn't going to speak.

"Hinata don't worry about me. I won't strain my eyes so far to kill myself." So it was Neji who came in with them. Sasuke could hear Neji say under his breath "Unless it's to protect you."

Sasuke gulped, so Neji's love for Hinata was deep, _very_ deep. This made him wonder if she would eventually end up marrying Neji, they were from the same clan, and he was one of the strongest Hyuuga's.

He shrugged it off; he gained some attention from the people in the room.

"Sasuke you're awake." He was found out and slowly began to rise from his bed. He hoped that he didn't have to stay in another hospital bed ever since he came out of the hospital a month ago.

"Yeah, I heard your whole conversation so you don't need to repeat anything." Tsunade relaxed her shoulders a bit. Hinata was barely able to contain her happiness and her eyes were filled with joyful tears, not yet falling.

Sasuke's eyes didn't open; he felt that it was still too bright.

"Okay you can leave with Hinata as soon as I finish the check up with you. Neji you can leave now." He didn't move yet, he looked at Hinata to receive her command before he could do anything. Of course she nodded for him to leave.

She didn't like it when Neji would constantly follow her and protect her like she was a child. But sometimes she would appreciate it more than she knew.

"Sasuke breathe in and out for me. I heard that there were spots all over your body. Was it…?" Sasuke just nodded feeling a little too tired from just waking up.

"We'll look in on it later. So just don't use your sharingan for the time being. Now open your eyes." He winced them open but closed them again.

"Can you pull down the blinds on the windows or something? The sun is shining too bright in here." Hinata and Tsunade blinked surprised.

"Sasuke it's night time and the only light we have on in here is a small desk lamp." Sasuke lifted his head up too shocked to say anything. Why was everything so bright then?

"I feared this would happen." She took the stethoscope out of her ears and off his chest.

"What? Don't tell me that…I'm blind!?" Sasuke pulled his covers off and jumped out the bed. Tsunade stumbled back but immediately pressed her hand on his forehead to bring him back down onto the bed.

"It's probably not permanent. Just temporary Sasuke, temporary so don't worry too much about it." She lifted her hand away.

"You have got to be kidding me." He put his own hand on his forehead.

"Do I look like I'm kidding? Oh wait…sorry I forgot." She smiled but of course he couldn't see that. Hinata was worrying in the corner wondering if there was anything she could have done to prevent this from happening.

"Well which do you prefer a dog helper or a human helper? Cause I have both ready to help you if you need it."

"I can get around by myself, thanks." He stood up but ran into a desk on his third step. Frustrated and pushing himself to keep his eyes from opening to brightness he kept on moving forward looking for the exit.

He was reaching his hands out when a small and warm hand firmly took hold of his. He could feel it shaking but it was still firm and strong. He let his hand rest into it not taking her hand but letting her lead him.

"I'll take care of him Tsunada-sama." She pulled him closer to herself and found himself walking with more confidence. She gave him a walking stick. "Do you know how to use one of these?"

"More or less…" He felt sick, sick of everything. Didn't he just say that she was useless in his mind? He didn't need her and yet he did. He didn't want her there to help him, and yet he let her.

They arrived at Sasuke's house safely with very little stumbling. She set him down on the dark blue couch that was in the living room.

His face was burning and it felt like he was lying on hot burning coal. His eyes must have been giving him a fever.

"Sasuke why do you push yourself so hard?" Hinata kneeled down and put her hand behind his bangs. His temperature was getting higher, a green glow emitted from her hand and Sasuke calmed down a bit.

"The hardest thing in life is to live." His voice rang through the room, and the clicking of the clock was always present. Time passed and her thoughts went wild and in one instant she found what she was trying to find.

"My mother once told me that…but she a-also said that…if you love doing something then it would be easier to deal with." She got more nervous since Sasuke's eyes turned to look at her face.

"A-and she said t-that if you hate it then you try to push it away from you…b-but that's normal s-so I…s-sorry I'm babbling on like that!" She put her head down and peeked through her hair to see if Sasuke was still staring at her.

"What happened to your mother?" She looked up.

"She died after she gave birth to Hanabi, my sister." Sasuke hinted the tone in her voice.

"So if I find something to love in life it will go smoother?" her eyes went blank.

"I guess you could put it that way. You can love something but try and push it away too I guess. You can love it and hate it?" And for the hundredth time Hinata was confused.

"S-Sorry really, forget I said anything." She left quickly to prepare something for him to eat.

Sasuke laid there looking at the ceiling. Everything she said seemed to seep into his feverish subconscious. The back of his head was feeling heavier than any other part of his body.

"You can love something...and push it away too." He sighed. _But I don't need her...I know I don't...but why do I feel like I do?_


	24. Long Awaited Memory

Long Awaited Memory

My talk is at the bottom!!! Oh and Naruto isn't mine, disclaimer and what not.

**Kind of like a filler story, sorry no SasuHina in this chapter...--**

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Sasuke laid there on the couch unwilling to move to the bedroom where he would need Hinata's help to get to. He left his blind eyes open staring at a ceiling he couldn't see. The lights were off, and this gave him comfort, he wasn't used to moving around with his eyes closed all the time.

Still he didn't move to get a glass of water, didn't move to pick up the covers that fell onto the floor, and he didn't move when a startling crash and a meow near the window sill of the newly made wall echoed through the room. He merely laid there waiting for sleep to come; he couldn't even tell if he was already asleep or if he was still awake, but soon enough sleep did come and so did a long awaited memory.

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----Small Sasuke---

Sasuke woke up, and walked over to his bathroom to get ready, seeing his small frame reflected back at him through his mirror. Stepping off the stool that allowed him to be high enough for the sink he leaped off to go great his parents for their morning breakfast.

Everything was the same; the little creaks at the first step and the last step of the stair case, and the bamboo doors lined up and opened to allow fresh air and sunshine into the room. He went into the kitchen to see that his brother and parents were already there waiting for him to eat.

"Sasuke-chan why are you so late? You know I like it when everyone is home for once and we can finally eat breakfast together." His mother gave him a sad pout face and put some rice into his bowl. Itachi and Sasuke's dad, Fugaku, were both staring at their bowls of rice tired of waiting when their stomachs were hungry for food.

"Okay now we can eat." And so they start eating, silently. The only one talking was the only woman in the house. "So Sasuke-chan, did you have a bad time sleeping?" She noticed the dark rings around his eyes, but he just beamed up at her.

"Yes Oka-san, but it was only because I was trying to figure out how you and Tou-san got together. I mean you're so happy all the time and Tou-san is…" Sasuke looked to the left while his chopsticks were in midair feeding him rice.

"Um…I mean Tou-san is just so…" Sasuke hesitated again. His cute little voice making his mother smile at his situation, his father, however, had stopped eating to hear the rest of Sasuke's sentence.

"You can say it Sasuke-chan, you can say that your father isn't very..." She glanced at her husband, the smile still plastered onto her face, "bright."

For the first time in a long time, if there ever was a time, Itachi stifled a snort from his rice filled mouth. The silence that came after was not overlooked by the family, who had never, never seen the child laugh knowingly. The have seen him laugh when he was a baby, but not after he learned the ways of the ninja in Konoha.

Itachi not looking at them and sipped down his bowl of miso soup, trying to get their attention, "So how DID you two meet? I knew mother was part of the Uchiha family but I thought that--"

"Shhh, don't ruin it for Sasuke-chan. It's a wonderful story and I've been waiting for the day one of you would ask me." "Mikoto don't tell me you're going to start from the beginning are you?" The head of the family asked quit reluctantly.

"Well of course I am, if you don't start from the beginning they wouldn't understand any of it." He stopped his brooding and told the beginning the story from his view.

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--A Memory within a Memory----

Uchiha Fugaku, which was his name, he would hate it when his supposed friends would try to shorten it. Always telling them he was old enough now to be called by his whole name.

He always said he was too old for those names. At age twenty-three that just didn't seem right. He definitely didn't like those names no matter how old he was. But sooner or later that was going to change, but he didn't know it…yet…

Like any other day her resumed his life being a ninja by following his father's footsteps of being chief of the Uchiha Police Corp. He would go on B-C rank missions and come back with minor bruised only to be criticized by his father over and over again.

It was tough living that way, but he had to live with it, no matter what. He would study up on scrolls all night after doing his nightly exercise then he would go to sleep like any other night.

But unlike any other day or night he would meet someone pretty strange.

He woke up that day as grumpy as usual fighting off a yawn in front of his father as he sat in front of him in the meeting room in their house. He frowned giving his father a stern expression; he would have rather spent the morning sleeping in instead of being here.

But of course he couldn't do that, he had to prove to his father that he was never immature even as a child, he barely showed any proof of childish acts at least not in his father's line of vision.

"Fugaku, my son, you are an adult now correct?" He nodded. Did his father forget how old his own son was? Or was he just reassuring that Fugaku knew that he was of age to be called an adult.

"So as an adult you will soon uphold the duties of the head of the Uchiha clan. But before that can happen you must become stronger physically and mentally." His son nodded again.

"You will also need a wife to present yourself with. Your children must be strong and they must represent the family name with honor. Do you understand?" His head did not shake, nor did it nod up and down. They sat in silence for a short time and the father grunted in frustration.

"Do you understand what you need to do?" Fugaku shook his head just slightly.

His father sighed, "You need to find a suitable spouse within the Uchiha family that has the ability to use the sharingan. We have picked some out for you already." He handed his son files and pictures on the women of the Uchiha clan.

"Fath-I mean Uchiha-sama are you saying that I will be forced into an arranged marriage if I do not find another Uchiha with the sufficient requirements?"

"That's what I'm saying. Do you not approve of my judgment?" His shoulders shook up.

"I-I approve, Uchiha-sama." His father was not heartless, to reassure that his son was fine with this arrangement he tried coxing him with words of other peoples relations.

"Fugaku." His son's shoulders shook again startled with his fathers overly stern voice.

"I heard that the Hatake's son, Kakashi, just passed the Chuunin exams at age 6. I will expect the best out of your son." Fugaku's mind was confused and he tried not to show it.

Why was his father telling him of this? To make him nerveless when looking for a woman? Or to tell him that he better not be beat by a little kid? Maybe he was trying to comfort him with news of others, or maybe he was simply trying to make small talk.

His father continued on with other news on fellow children of prestigious clans. "The Hyuuga heir and his brother are doing well and soon they will be finding spouses. Their clan will prosper while ours is gradually getting larger even though we are still small."

He went on, "I also heard the Umino's son was born healthy and will soon become a fine ninja, of course he is still only a year old I believe his name was Iruka..." Fugaku nodded and listened to his father.

"What I'm trying to say is, Fugaku, is that even if we do not love the one we are with. We must continue to expand our clans or Konoha will die out. As a strong clan in this village you have to be the one to lead the other in our clan." Fugaku nodded still a bit shook up on how important his duty/mission was to find a wife.

His father left first and Fugaku sat there staring at the files. The statuses on the women were surprisingly high and great, but after looking at the pictures not a single one of them made his heart pound.

They were all 'okay looking', being Uchiha's and all, but he couldn't find the warmth and kindness that he wanted in a female companion. So he went off to find one of those woman the files had on or another Uchiha that his father may have overlooked.

Walking out of his spacious home and into the dirt road a trio of ninjas was walking and they saw their sempai in front of them. They quickly ran to him and gave him a fine salute.

"Well, you three look like you are doing fine. How was your mission?" The looked at each other and gave a unified shout. "The mission was accomplished without problem sir!"

Fugaku sweat-dropped, "You guys don't have to talk to me like that you know. I'm not yet the head of the family so you can be uhh 'at ease' or something…" Fugaku's façade dropped and his true colors were beginning to show.

He was simply a 23 year old man having troubles looking for a wife, like every other man out there. An idea hit him, these 16 year olds might have known someone within his family that even he didn't know about.

But saying, 'Do you know an Uchiha girl that I can marry?' was weird. So maybe he could, who knows, rearrange the words to make it fit.

"Hey, do you guys know any dark haired beauties?" He whispered, the three were bewildered, they never thought that their sempai could ever think of woman, but now they could see he was pushing himself and he was blushing furiously for asking them.

"Dark haired beauties?" One of them said, he was a bit chubby, and he had swirls on his face. "Well what about the eyes?" One with bright blonde hair, that was shoulder length and that flared out, asked.

They stared at him, he was a little more aware of women's feelings then any of the others. His family running a flower shop and all, the last kid that was left had his hair up in a pony tail, his brown hair making him a bit duller than the rest. But he liked it that way being unnoticed and not looking like an obstacle.

"Um… well the eyes will have to be dark and black." The dull one was quite sharp in truth.

"You're looking for another Uchiha right? You're the heir so that's what's going to happen…" He looked up at the sky partly stretching with his hands behind his head.

"Why don't you ask the Hatake kid. He knows a lot of the Uchiha since he's considered a prodigy for passing the Chuunin exam." They soon left after crack jokes for Fugaku looking for someone to spend the rest of his life with.

"Too bad, women are so hard to deal with." The chubby one said, the blonde haired teen laughed on from the previous joke and attempted to make another.

"Yeah, but its worse if you get a daughter with that woman." The laughing stopped and they could hear a bet coming on.

"Okay let's make a bet." The pony tailed one said, he liked to take his bets since he most likely knew the outcome, he was THAT good at predicting.

"Whoever gets a daughter will have to pay for drinks every Friday till the day we die." The all laughed, Fugaku listening in on their conversation and didn't want to be tangled up with the bet.

The other two were in on it, and put one of their fists in. "I take this bet on." They chanted together. They forgot their sempai needed help with girl trouble, but they already gave their advice.

They were singing when the left, the rings to it sounded like, 'Commitment, Commitment,' and a lot of laughing in between. Those three were very close friends. He laughed walking towards the Hatake estate.

They were of no help. Kakashi was just resting after his exam a couple days ago, Asuma, and Kurenai playing house with one of Fugaku's relatives, he recognized him as Obito Uchiha.

Apparently Asuma and Kurenia were the parents and Obito was their child. Kakashi refused to play, saying that it was against the rules for him to play, which he probably made up.

Fugaku sat with Kakashi on the couch, Kakashi was more or less slouching on the arm of the couch. Fugaku was just watching the younger kids in thought, he didn't know what to do, talking to women wasn't one of his redeeming traits. He had actually never really spoke with other women, rather they spoke to him.

Uchiha's were known for their good looks, Obito was an exception from that wide fact (just kidding), and they were known for their stiff actions within their family, now THIS was something Obito was and exception from.

Fugaku continued watching the kids, he felt he couldn't just leave them, so he decided to baby sit a little until someone told him to leave. Kakashi was probably the only sensible one out of the group; he wouldn't let them get hurt, not because they were his friends but because if he let them get hurt his pride would have been smashed.

"You're having women troubles aren't you?" Kakashi said from his brand new orange book, probably the first of the series. "How did you know?"

"This book teaches you a lot of things. You should read it sometime." Fugaku took another look at the book.

"Aren't you too youn--" He was cut off, "So do you want some advice or don't you?"

"Well, yeah I do. I already asked the Ino-Shika-Cho group but they told me to come to you."

Kakashi sighed, "I'm only a six year old boy, what do they expect from me?" In the background they could hear a vase break and they looked up. Almost immediately Asuma and Kurenai pointed fingers to Obito who was looking innocent with big black eyes.

"I didn't do it! I'm a good boy! It was Pakkun!"

"Don't blame me, look he has some water on his hands Kakashi. You know it was him." Obito quickly tried to wipe his hands using his clothes.

"Now I didn't summon Pakkun just so you could play house with him, he was there to watch you guys." Kakashi sighed again, so much sighing for a six year old. He pushed the orange book into Fugaku's chest. "Read this and everything you know about women will be erased and replaced."

Basically saying, 'You're wrong about women so forget everything you know and learn something new. Kakashi went to go clean up the mess and Fugaku left with a soft bye. He went on walking into a secluded playground by the looks of it the time was around 4-5 o'clock.

Sitting down on a park bench he opened the book. Reading the first page was really…what the heck! He had to say the first page already gave him a blush to his cheeks. He couldn't believe Kakashi was reading this! He was still a kid though so he might not know what any of this meant, he better not have!

Fugaku checked his surroundings before he continued to read. He stopped his circling eyes to look straight on. He saw a girl, no not a girl, but a beautiful woman sitting on a park bench across from him. Granted there was a swing set and jungle gym covering his vision to see her face.

He scooted right from his bench, still not able to see her face he kept on going until he fell off completely. He slouched up and tried to see if the woman was still there. But to his surprise she was gone from her seat. He puffed out some dust that was on his bangs.

A hand greeted him, he trailed that hand to an arm and onwards seeing the woman he so obviously made a fool of himself in front of.

He pushed himself up, without taking her hand. She looked a little sad at that. Before she could ask something he said. "I'm fine, I just didn't want to get any dust on you."

Talking to a complete stranger first wasn't his thing, but he had to make an exception. Why was this woman making his heart beat so strong. She giggled, and that made him turn to see her face.

"You know when someone offers you a hand you should take it." She said strong and demandingly. He scoffed, "When someone offers you a hand you should take it? I've never heard of that one before, but…" He looked at her again; her long hair and bangs framing her face and her deep colored eyes making his heart beat loudly, "I'll make a mental note of it."

"It is very nice to meet you, Mr…?" He stopped his staring and realized he was being asked a question. "Oh! I'm Fugaku, Uchiha Fugaku." She squealed a little, her hands clasped each other.

"The heir to the clan? I'm honored! I'm Mikoto, Uchiha Mikoto! It's nice to meet you!" She grabbed his hands, smiling. He knew this woman was something special, but why hadn't he seen her name on any of those files? He probably had to check again. As they left for a little something to eat.

Was this an unknown date? Or was he just trying to kill some time with someone? But wait, wasn't that the definition of a date?

_To be continued if you want..._ _the Fugaku/Mikoto was intended to be another fic, but i decided to smush it with this one. If you want me to continue this Fugaku/Mikoto story just say so. I was planning on giving them a lot more drama, but if pple think this is boring i'll stop._

* * *

_DONE!_

Confusing? Well I didn't reread it. So it might be. I support the TOBITO theory, even though it is kinda obvious now since that one chapter 264 i think. But it might not be him so blahh. I made Ino's dad's hair down but short, maybe lookin a little like riku in kingdom hearts 2.But with blonde hair, i didnt want him to put up his hair yet so yeahh. Just to give you guys a new look on what he might have looked like, which is not likely.

I dont know if Mikoto(Sasuke's Mama) was part of the Uchiha family originally, but she must be right? THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS!!! Sorry i haven't been able to reply, kinda tired. (Summer is so boring. but its ok).

Sorry i took so long too, it took me a while to write down all their ages from before Sasuke's parents died, to the past past memory. Does that make sense? If you have questions PM me or review.

_**OH, IF YOU HAVE REVIEWED BEFORE OR IF YOU HAVE FAVED ME OR THIS STORY, I USUALLY READ AND LOOK AT YOUR GUY'S PROFILES AND READ YOUR STORIES. **_ This is just to encourage some more reviews, i really do read and look at your guy's profiles and your stories so yeahh...**THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT.**


	25. The Remembered Memories

The Remembered Memories

Hola, I'm not Spanish, anyway yeahhh it's been a month since I updated, lol sorry bout that, just enjoying the rest of my little vacation. I think I lost some fans out there. Hehe but yeah hope you enjoy this little chapter, and if you have questions just ask. Thanks!

_**Disclaimer: We all know I don't own Naruto it's just fun to do the disclaimer.**_

"Fu-chan!" She raised her voice to see if he was paying attention to her at all. She had no clue that he was actually fantasizing about her. They had spent more than a month with each other, which was more than enough time for the older Uchiha to realize his feelings, unfortunately Uchiha Mikoto was a very, very dense person.

Who knew that she was so blind to all the signs of him loving her? Her cheerful smile, her soft giggles, and the way her hand tucks away a stray hair behind her ear, everything about her was so beautiful. But why was she so blind to his feelings?

Was he not clear when he fell off the chair to catch a better look of her? Was he not clear when he would have an uncontrollable blush towards her that he was at the point of fainting? Was he clear to her at all?

Unfortunately again she was a very simple minded person, but this simple minded person could bring down the Uchiha heir in a heart beat.

"Haven't I told you not to call me that? Mi-ko-to-chan?" He teased her patiently. According to the book that Kakashi gave him it said to play it cool and to tease people you like often. This gave the whole definition to 'Kakashi'.

"I know, you've told me a lot of times, but I don't like calling you Fugaku-kun. Your name just gives me the chills whenever I say it." She huddled against him to show that she was shivering. It was only early fall and he could see the green leaves on the trees turn yellow.

He could also see his face turn red with her so close to him. He shifted a little in his seat at the well-known Ichiraku Ramen bar stand. Seeing the middle-aged man before them give them some warm dumplings, even if it was mainly a ramen bar they still had other foods there too.

Trying to find something to avert his attention to, he brought a conversation between him and the man (forgot old man's name guessing Teuchi I think).

"Eh Teuchi-san how is your wife and daughter doing?" He smiles at them, seeing a small resemblance to him and his wife a while back. "They are just fine. Now shouldn't you be finishing those dumplings so you two can go somewhere?" He winks at Fugaku and Fugaku shivers waking up Mikoto from her slight daze in the process.

"Yeah shouldn't we be going Fu-chan?" "Now what have I told you about that name?" He says sternly, trying to take control as a man for once. She pouts and gives him a good puppy dog look.

"But you know I can't stand saying Fugaku-kun, and the name Fu-kun just sounds like a bad word! Fu-chan please?!" Her eyes were glassy and wide staring through her bangs. He couldn't wait to hold her in his arms. She was just too cute, and only one person knew how bad an affinity Fugaku had on cute things, and that was Kakashi.

He would secretly steal glances at anything cute, passing by a toy store's window to catch glimpses of stuffed animals, but watching her is ten times better than any stuffed animal.

"F-fine, but only if we're alone I don't want the pip squeak Kakashi making fun of me some more."

"Thank you Fu-chan!" She puts her arms around his neck and gives him a peck on the cheek.

They left to a lake and a grass field that had soon-to-be withered flowers engulfing them. Fugaku smiled when he saw the look of surprise Mikoto gave to him, when she jumped into his arms and made them fall into a pile of flowers with petals flying in the air. Much like how Sasuke fell the first time he came out of confinement.

"You know, Mikoto-chan, my father has high standards. I was happy when he said 'As expected of my child', but…I'm not a child anymore." She snuggled up to him on the ground and listened on.

"So… when I become a father I'll set really high standards for my children. So that when they finally meet that goal they will feel what I felt when I got my father's acknowledgment."

"Do you understand Mikoto-chan?" She hummed into his shirt with her eyes shut taking in the moment. "I'll need a mother for those children so that they won't feel so pressured by me." She looked up into his eyes only to see that he wasn't looking back at her but blushing immensely.

"I'm asking you if…Would you marry me?" He almost shouted at her. They were both blushing, but she still wasn't responding to his question. She looked like she was speechless, which she probably was by the way. Without warning he abruptly stood up leaving her on the ground.

He gave out his hand to her and smiled genuinely, like he has whenever he was with her. "You know when someone gives you a hand you should take it." He smirked at her, quoting one of her first sentences she has ever said to him, but taking his hand in this statement meant taking his hand….in marriage.

Of course she couldn't doubt that she loved this man very dearly, almost too much for it just to be friendly.

So she took his hand and gave him a kiss on the lips, and eventually said "Yes" seeing her smile at him with so much joy he thought it was too cute.

"Too…Cute…" So he hugged her more squeezing the breath out of her. "Fu-chan, have you thought everything through yet? Are you sure you would want to marry someone like me?" He kissed her again, a chaste kiss but a kiss none the less.

"I wouldn't think twice about it. Besides I've already asked someone to be the godfather to our children." She sweat dropped, but she knew he was going to be a very good father.

"Really? Who is it?" He sighed.

"Well he almost begged me to let him be it. Heh I couldn't refuse after all, he's a very great ninja."

"Ahh Fu-chan just tell me already!" He chuckled at her. "He's none other than Namikaze Minato." She gasped.

"You mean that incredible handsome young man? With the blonde hair?"

"Hey I thought you were engaged to me now?" The laughter of the two began to fade in and out till it just stopped completely.

Then as the memories of months passed in Sasuke's head like a tape going into fast forward it halted to a memory of his parents standing in the middle of a plain snow field with trees yielding to the heavy layers of snow on them, and the glistening ice of the lake near by.

They were in a tight embrace, a surprise on his mother's face, a stern look in his father's face. It seems his father had initiated the hug, for what, Sasuke didn't know. It was as though Sasuke was within the memory himself watching and standing in the snow with them, wishing he could join in the embrace.

Tears fell from his father's eyes dropping to the top of his mother's head. She tried to look up, to see what that warm drop that fell from the sky was; unbeknownst to her it was tears of sadness not of joy.

Sasuke watched on, seeing Fugaku whisper words of sorrow to Mikoto, what was going on? He couldn't hear them, but he wished to. He tried moving towards them almost groping the air for they seemed to be drifting away. He was moving to them trying to at least.

Till he fell into the abyss…

Sasuke fell from the side of the couch on which he was laying. A loud thud and a response of a groan, he missed the coffee table by some margin. His eyes were still empty and he couldn't see at all, though he still had bandages around his eyes.

He was shaking, from what he didn't know. Was it that dream of the memory his parents told him of? He couldn't remember the reaction on his face from when he was a child. What kind of reaction did Itachi give to the story? What did he say afterwards?

Why was his mind playing cruel jokes with him? He tried to recall what had happened after that part of the memorial story that his parents told him.

Oh that was right, he didn't hear the end of the story, they had an abrupt alarm at the police station where his father and Itachi went something about a second attempt at the Hyuuga heiress's life.

The Hyuuga heiress…Hinata! He suddenly thought jolting from his spot on the floor he stretched his arms out to look for her. Calling her would seem weak, but how else would he find her without bumping into her?

He hesitated in calling her name; it seemed so long since he said it that it seemed new and dry on his lips. He gulped, and tried again.

"Hi…Hinata…?" It was barely above a whisper. No response though. He called out again this time louder. He was afraid; he admitted to himself, he didn't want to dream on about the past. _But I've remember a couple of things now, that dobe is my godbrother…arghh_. He inwardly growled.

He'd take a bet that even Naruto didn't know that, and still he acted like they were brothers. _Correction he STILL acts like we're brothers._

Sasuke continued his search for Hinata listening in for any signs of foot steps. He didn't even know what time it was all he knew was that he needed to find Hinata. He didn't want to be alone and dream about the past again.

He went on up the stairs, luckily the first and last step had loud creaks to them so he knew when he was finished walking instead of taking an extra step into air. He put his hand up to the wall counting the doors he passed by.

The first one was a closet, where he knew that across from it would be his parent's big room that was for storage now.

The second room was his, where it was clean and sanitized. No doubt that Hinata took the liberty of cleaning his room while he was gone.

The third one… that was right next to his. Unusually the doors to that room and his were close by, barely feet away from each other. He only noticed now.

Itachi's room, now turned into a girls room. Were there secrets in there? Scrolls of the family maybe? Possibly, but just asking questions to himself would be getting him no where.

Unlike most of the house the private rooms weren't traditional…well actually now the house was barely traditional due to Sasuke's renovations. But even before that the private rooms had door knob types of doors. They were just as wide and big as any other room you would find in an Uchiha estate.

But, again, his and Itachi's room were close to each other. Reminding himself again that the wall that separated Itachi's and Sasuke's were thin, very uncommon in this house. Sasuke would look into that later still too busy looking for his 'human helper' so to say.

The door opened, the creak gone, he heard soft breathing and maybe jerks on the sheets. What was she doing? Was that Hinata or someone else? What if there were TWO people on the bed?

AGAIN Questioning himself was getting no where. So he decided to investigate, he figured she was sleeping and the fact that she was alone calmed him. But there was still a jerking noise of the sheets being pulled.

He didn't want to wake her up so she could yell at him to get out of her room. So how would he figure out why she was moving around, or if there was something other on her bed?

_I'll have to touch her._ He sure wasn't blushing, he was positive. She just made him curious and he was willing to kill time by figuring out his problems, his blind problem that is…

He felt the edge of the bed, and slowly skimmed his finger on the top lightly. Until he felt the top of her knee, it was bent and moving as though she was running.

He took a moment to think. Then it hit him, she was having a nightmare! Running away in her sleep like some sort of puppy, he 'heh'ed. So he got this 'cute' fetish from his father. He couldn't believe it.

But then he frowned immediately after remembering his little fall over the couch trick he did earlier.

She moved he knee into his hand and he pulled back. He realized then that her knee was bare. As in a naked knee, what was she wearing? Shorts? Or maybe a nightgown. He had to restrain himself from roaming his hands upwards from her knees to check.

He certainly was not a pervert, or at least he didn't think he was. He stepped back from where he was at the side of her bed into a chair and continued to stare, or at least try to stare, at the body that was sleeping in front of him.

"S-Sasuke?" After a couple minutes of shifting he could hear her bolt upright after her dream. He didn't dignify her with an answer just shifted his weight to his arm.

"How long have you been sitting there?" Again he didn't answer her.

"I-Is there…a reason you're up here? In my room?" If he could make his eyes go wide he would have.

"I…thought I heard someone moving restlessly so I came to check up on you." _Not like there was much to check up on besides maybe her in a nice nightgown. Damn these eyes._

"I was having a nightmare…sort of a silly one actually." She laughed at herself. She had an Uchiha in her room so there wasn't anything to be afraid of now.

"Enlighten me." She shifted on her bed into a position more comfortable than before.

"It was about during the stadium part of the Chuunin exams. Remember from that one long ago?" How could he forget not after that Orochimaru incident.

"Hn."

"I had lost consciousness but Kiba was with me, I can't remember much but there was a man under a hood with grey hair and glasses."

"Kakashi?" He thought out loud. But then again Kakashi didn't need glasses for one of his eyes so he took it back.

"No it wasn't him, it was someone who had took part in the Chuunin exam…" She let her mind wander but then remembered everything.

"K-Kabuto-san! I remember! He healed me…But in my dream…and I remember when we were sent to go find you he had…Sasuke what happened to him?"

She gripped his hand tight, he was startled but didn't show it. She was holding his hand…but wait…Kabuto was Orochimaru somewhat…and the part of Orochimaru that was inside Sasuke had transferred to Kabuto.

"Kabuto, he should be…"


	26. The Troubling Sharingan

The Troubling Sharingan

_**Disclaimer: Yeah yeah don't own Naruto blah blah**_

Yeah yeah very tired…this chapters really choppy I know I shouldn't do chapters at night when I'm tired, but yeahh… Okay thanks for the lovely reviews. YUP Oh and can you believe that person who copied Archee-chan's work _I Think I_ ? Dang that person is wack. The title was like 'The Pretend Girlfriend' go yell at that person. Copying is copying! Ok yeahh I hope Archee-chan knows. K yeah read the choppy chapter!

"He's dead. I killed him along with Orochimaru. So there's nothing to worry about Hinata." He could hear her sigh.

"Where are you going?" He asked, feeling the air pass by him and his air sway against his face. She wasn't responding. "Hinata?" he called out to her again.

"I-I'm changing Sasuke…" She whispered right behind him.

"Why?" Suddenly very interested in the conversation he turned a little to show he was still listening.

"The room is a little d-drafty." _Drafty? Damn, I sure missed out on something_. He had the intense urge to ask what she was wearing but didn't want to seem like a pervert and didn't ask.

So instead he turned to where her voice was coming from. Hinata looked at him to see that his head was staring at her. (weird) She blushed even though his eyes were covered by bandages it still felt awkward.

"C-could you maybe turn away?" He shrugged.

"Don't worry, it's not like I'm staring at you anyway. Just continue changing. She wasn't happy to hear that, but continued on anyway.

He could smell the air begin to change scents as she ruffled up her clothes and put them in a basket. Putting on a different pair of clothes she picked up his hands that were sitting on his lap, startling him some more and they went out.

"Where are we going?" She gave him a pair of sunglasses so the sun wouldn't irritate him that much.

"Tsunade informed me last night, by messenger bird, that I have a mission that requires my services as a Hyuuga. She said Sakura would be taking care of you." He groaned out loud.

"She's not so bad, she's actually very kind." Hinata rang a doorbell, he presumed as Sakura's.

The door swung open, someone just then jumped and hugged Sasuke. Sasuke didn't know who it was and didn't know if he should hit them or just leave them alone.

"Hiiiiinnnnnaaataaaaa-channnn!!!!!!!!!!!!! I missed you so much." Naruto screamed into Sasuke's ears. Naruto's eyes were closed while smiling widely. But his smile went down as he pushed Sasuke in arm's length.

"Ehhh? What happened to your chest Hinata-chan?" Naruto put a hand on Sasuke's chest, eyes still chinky from smiling.

"OMG NARUTO! I thought we cleared this 'groping me' thing already!" Sasuke hit his head and tossed him towards the door.

"Naruto! Watch where you're going, I don't want to clean up whatever you break!" She screamed at him. She greeted Hinata quietly and asked Sasuke to come inside.

"See you guys later. Oh and Sakura please check his eyes. He wasn't really blind before, just probably foggy so please check if he can see again." She smiled to her.

"Of course I will Hinata. Please don't worry about us." She waved to Hinata and Sasuke waved too, guessing where she was.

"Sasuke! Why are you here, and where'd Hinata go?" Naruto rubbed his head where the bump was.

"She went on a mission, dobe." Sasuke went into the house and sat on the closest thing he could find.

"Really…I just heard that she was going to come over Sakura's house for a bit. Oh right how about I leave you two alone for a while? You guys must want your 'time'." Sakura blushed but Sasuke didn't even budge. He wanted him to spend more time with Sakura so that they could be more 'comfortable' or whatever Naruto was thinking.

"Naruto! No, let's all just hang out together like we did when we were team 7!" Sakura was against being alone with a blind Sasuke. Who knows what could go wrong?

"Fine fine…If Sakura wants me here so badly…" He was waiting for her to hit him for that comment, but she just scoffed it off.

"Oh right Sasuke-kun let me check your eyes before we go out to eat." She tried to get close to him but he moved away.

"Not with this light." He demanded that he wouldn't do it without the lights off.

"Don't worry I have a special light so it won't affect your eyes all that much. Now now come over here. Naruto please fold the blinds and turn off the light when I tell you to."

Naruto mimicked her mouthing and nagged while doing what he was told to do. She turned on the special light and gave him the signal. She watched as he took off his bandages. The cloth ruffling his dark black hair, the light illuminating his skin, and the bandages settled onto his revealed muscular neck…She gulped, it was as though her crush was reappearing.

All she wanted to do now was see those deep black eyes of his. The end of the bandage fell to the floor and he slowly opened his eyes. What they saw next was…

"Omg. Your eyes…Sasuke teme." Naruto was able to say what Sakura couldn't. Was there something wrong with his eyes? Or what?

"What? Tell me what's wrong with my eyes." Sakura examined it making sure her chakra flow was irregular so that she wouldn't get caught.

"Sasuke-kun…are you aware that…" She was having trouble examining his eyes, functioning her chakra, and talking at the same time. So Naruto, who only looked at Sasuke for a moment and was now facing away, said it for her.

"Your eyes have been in sharingan mode this whole time teme." What? How could that be? Sasuke didn't activate it…Was it working properly? Cause Naruto should have been stuck in a genjutsu by now.

"Sakura's a genjutsu type so she knows how to deal with it for the most part. But I'm still only a one-shot man so don't underestimate me." He obviously learned how to withstand genjutsu on this level, remember he was the one who helped Sasuke defeat his brother.

"That's not right though…Naruto you should have been affected by the sharingan the moment you looked into his eyes." Sakura stated closing her eyes from the strain. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Well maybe it's because I only looked into one eye." Sasuke and Sakura shot up from their seats.

"That doesn't make sense Naruto! Tell us which eye you looked into…" Naruto put his hands behind his head. He pondered a bit while smiling.

"I forget." They sighed.

"We should bring you to Tsunade-sama…let's just hope that Naruto's supposed info wasn't that important." Naruto whined about not getting and food. Sasuke just put his bandages back on and his sunglasses.

"Wow…what an elaborate plain Orochimaru set up for you Sasuke…" Tsunade observed his eyes also regulating her chakra wildly so she wouldn't get caught.

"How so?" Sasuke was perplexed by the whole 'sharingan is on' thing.

"Well haven't you wondered why your heaven seal looks almost exactly like your sharing? Also he used the heaven seal once before on someone else." The door opened and came in someone he had definitely seen before.

Her hair was down, it looked as though she just woke up. She yawned in front of them rudely.

"Anko just woke up." She was wearing a hospital gown. Maybe she was sick?

"Yeah that mission was a doozy…Also are you guys talking about me?" He could see her mark still present on her skin. Why didn't she get the treatment that he had gotten?

"I know what you're thinking Sasuke. Why didn't I get that treatment? Well you have the full version of that seal…but I have the one that was still in development. So I get some unstable urges to use m chakra."

Sasuke knew what she was talking about. Although the seal for Juugo was the full and original version…he had the urges to kill.

"Okay so what about my seal looking like the sharingan?" He repeated her from earlier. She took a moment to think, and Anko sat on a chair just observing them looking bored.

"The seal didn't disappear all the way…I'm guessing it's probably replaced itself on a different part on your body."

"So what…my eyes?" She nodded.

"Just one of them. But we can't risk looking into your eyes more than we have. Plus there's no way to tell which eye it's in.

"You have GOT to be kidding me." His eyes were twitching. He could feel them moving, he was telling them to stop but who knows what was going on.

"Hey Tsunade, what happened to the alliance thing that you should be signing right now?" She laughed.

"We figured out that problem easily. They're going to come over here and bring the treaty by means of ninja. Hinata and Christian Reiheart and some other ninjas should be escorting them here now."

_Why that shy guy Christian? Where the heck has he been?_ "Why send Hinata? Aren't they going to attack her?" Sasuke thought…he could feel his eyes ache more. He rubbed his eyes from under his shades.

"We sent her because she has the skill of making everyone around her feel comfortable. Christian was there because he is an aspiring ambassador and wants to learn the art of persuasion and compromising. Hinata's is also there because we want them to know we trust them and that we forgive them from their past mistake."

_I don't forgive them._

"Besides that we're ganna have to do surgery on one of your eyes…I hope we can figure out which one though, the risk is too great for any ninja to attempt…"

"We can probably figure this out by using the byakugan…but they would be equally at risk with the channel of chakra that flows between the both of them."

"I think the only Hyuuga that would do this willingly is…" Someone popped into the room with an urgent messaged just then.

"The reconnaissance group has come back Tsunade-sama. With injury to the Hyuuga of the group, but that was minimized due to Christian Reihearts jump in during the attack. The bandits who attacked them were just after money, but they say that there were very advanced missing nin with them."

"Okay where are the injured?" The med-nin said that they were in the next room. Sasuke could see a glimpse of long dark hair, a pink haired nin, and two blondes in the next room. He could tell that one of them was crying, from pain? Or…

_Hinata…_


End file.
